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Post by ruftytuftyrider on Aug 9, 2012 22:04:17 GMT
Daughter has always wanted to work in a zoo so this week she is doing a week long "zooniversity" at Twycross Zoo which gives 14 to 16 year olds an idea of the different jobs that are available at zoos.
As a result I have spent a lot of time at the zoo this week but today really took the biscuit.
Usually I only have to bite my tongue when parents looking at gorillas, chimps, bonobos, orangutangs (greater apes) or gibbons (lesser apes) say "look at the monkey" - I so want to say "they are apes don't you know monkeys have tails whilst apes don't".
Today seemed to be the day when animals that were not at all alike were mis-identified - we had:
A guinea pig called a chinchilla
A donkey called a minature horse
A capybara called a tapir
A prairie dog called a chipmunk
What next will someone call an elephant a mouse or a giraffe a zebra!?!
But the best of all was a lady looking at the very fat male camel saying to her friend and children "look you can see the baby camel moving in its mother's tummy, I saw a foal moving in a horses tummy once and this is the same" - his name is Jared. I have to say that this is the second time I have heard someone tell their child that the male camel is pregnant.
It is such a shame that children are receiving incorrect information about animals from their family. Each enclosure has information posted about the animals therein so why, if they do not know, do people not check the boards to ensure their child gets the correct information.
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Post by nia2311 on Aug 9, 2012 22:28:33 GMT
Hehehe I love overhearing this sort of stuff as well!! A lady in the vets was very confident my rabbit was a baby rabbit, told her Grandaughter (I think?) about him being a baby. I didn't have the heart to say no, he is just a miniature breed and is actually about 5 years old, which is middle aged for a rabbit!!
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shady
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Post by shady on Aug 9, 2012 22:36:20 GMT
Me too! I've lost count of the amount of times my "mare" has been called pretty, hes a very handsome boy (in my opinion). Even judges, instructors, etc etc have called him a mare. I cant be bothered to correct them most of the time.
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Post by nia2311 on Aug 9, 2012 22:40:44 GMT
Me too! I've lost count of the amount of times my "mare" has been called pretty, hes a very handsome boy (in my opinion). Even judges, instructors, etc etc have called him a mare. I cant be bothered to correct them most of the time. Is he too polite to show them his widget?!  |
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Post by bethanyy on Aug 9, 2012 22:49:44 GMT
Hehehe I love overhearing this sort of stuff as well!! A lady in the vets was very confident my rabbit was a baby rabbit, told her Grandaughter (I think?) about him being a baby. I didn't have the heart to say no, he is just a miniature breed and is actually about 5 years old, which is middle aged for a rabbit!! HAHA ;D my friend gets that all the time from clueless idiots when we hack out her Shetlands... "oh look at the baby pony!" - erm he's 7 years old actually! Just to show how thick some people are her shetland is a palomino and we managed to convince a good 6 or 7 people that he was the shetland out of emmerdale and he was painted when he did his scenes! Fools hahahha! |
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shady
Junior Member
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Post by shady on Aug 9, 2012 22:52:52 GMT
Me too! I've lost count of the amount of times my "mare" has been called pretty, hes a very handsome boy (in my opinion). Even judges, instructors, etc etc have called him a mare. I cant be bothered to correct them most of the time. Is he too polite to show them his widget?! Ha ha! No, I have numerous photos which would look lovely of us at shows etc, but hes hanging it all out for the world to see  |
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Post by howengold on Aug 10, 2012 12:00:00 GMT
I always get asked how old is my baby horse and how big will he get....it's a shettie and being ridden by my niece when we get asked...........even if you say he's 16 years old they can't comprehend that he won't get any bigger and my 14.2hh section d isn't his mum....
What chance do kids have if their parents can't even understand things.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2012 12:09:01 GMT
Well my lovely boyfriend thought lions and tigers where the same species just male and female. He though my guinea pig was a hamster, and to top it off last weekend when we were collecting the eggs which he had in his hand, he asked if any of the hens were pregnant . Hes 23 and heavens knows how he has got to that age and he is from the "country" got to love him! There are so many more of these but i cant remember, as i probably laughed to much. i also remember years back i was up in the lakes riding my fell, i had once owned and a couple were walking their kids around as there was a b and b, and the child who was about 12 ish asked what animal it was. utter shock. |
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Post by gillwales on Aug 10, 2012 12:17:12 GMT
last year I happened to be at folly farm which also has a selection of exotic animals, a couple of 30 something women stood outside the Camel section debating what sort of animals they were, they debated between giraffes and bison... I thought that was a one off but Im obviously wrong. It all beggars belief!
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shady
Junior Member
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Post by shady on Aug 10, 2012 14:55:09 GMT
A friend of mine, who is a solicitor, told me shed seen some strange animals in a field when on the train. First of all she thought it was just bushes, but they moved. Said they were a bit like a cross between penguins and sheep... I was really perplexed, turned out they were alpacas! Don't think she meant penguins...
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sarahp
Happy to help
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Post by sarahp on Aug 10, 2012 17:47:48 GMT
Must admit i have no idea what a capybara is, although I would recognise a tapir.
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Post by iluvmyponies on Aug 10, 2012 18:41:28 GMT
Try overhearing that your fell is 'rather over height for a shetland pony' ;D
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Post by yourmother nli on Aug 10, 2012 21:30:59 GMT
Try overhearing that your fell is 'rather over height for a shetland pony' ;D Who said that? |
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Post by ruftytuftyrider on Aug 10, 2012 22:45:00 GMT
A capybara is the largest rodent in the world and looks nothing like a Tapir but are often housed with the Tapir as they are from South America.
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sarahp
Happy to help
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Post by sarahp on Aug 11, 2012 4:46:46 GMT
Thank you!
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Post by michelle28 on Aug 11, 2012 5:56:08 GMT
I was once asked by a family friend ( who is a consultant at the hospital) if there was such thing as male and female horses!!!!
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sarahp
Happy to help
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Post by sarahp on Aug 11, 2012 6:45:30 GMT
How on earth did he/she think they reproduced then?
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Post by gillwales on Aug 11, 2012 7:36:08 GMT
I was once asked by a family friend ( who is a consultant at the hospital) if there was such thing as male and female horses!!!! Not certain I would want to be seen by him! Hope he is not a gynecologist! |
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Post by brt on Aug 11, 2012 8:55:19 GMT
Riding out with a friend on a coloured one day when a child with her parents shouted "look mummy that girl is riding a cow!" to which "mummy" said "oh yes! look!!"
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Post by welshiegirl on Aug 12, 2012 6:59:58 GMT
Oh my god how appaling!
I'm only 14 but I can't stand little kids and their mothers yelling things about either of my ponies, they receive a death glare and they shut up! My gelding is also a very 'pretty' man, and is often thought to be a mare.
He's 14 years old, but still gets called a baby! A Judge (who I ddo like so this isn't a b****y comment) after winning a class, turned to me and said 'What a lovely baby!'
Its ffunny when people think they know things, and your laughing because they are chatting cow poo! Being the only horsey one in my year, people who THINK they canride and know everything soon shut up when I 'out-horse' them! It does wind me up, don't people know tthings these days? How can you not know what a camel is?
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Post by bumblebee on Aug 12, 2012 15:41:55 GMT
Dont even get me started on the coloureds and cows comments!!
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Post by libbigail on Aug 13, 2012 19:48:23 GMT
When working on a petting farm I often got asked about the "baby sheep" (goats) and "baby "baby horses" (shetlands)
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Post by choppytrotty on Aug 14, 2012 11:12:27 GMT
A Tescos van pulled up at our yard. The man got out, delivered the shopping. Alls good. A little girl came riding past on her 12hh, and the guy said'phwoooaar, why is she riding that foal?' Goodness gracious  |
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Post by vikki85 on Sept 1, 2012 10:26:30 GMT
Well my lovely boyfriend thought lions and tigers where the same species just male and female. Haha this really tickled me, bless him! |
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Post by fluteybeauty on Sept 1, 2012 11:57:41 GMT
I work on a petting farm my favorite was the alpaca being called lemur!!
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Post by flee on Sept 1, 2012 18:51:40 GMT
Well my grandchildren get a bit confused because we have a dog called Rabbit .
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Post by ruftytuftyrider on Sept 1, 2012 21:04:15 GMT
Luv the dog called rabbit flee :-)
I wanted my mum to call her dog spot (she is a black labrador and I thought it was funny at the time).
Today at the zoo we had an orangutang that was called a gorilla and a leopard that was called both a cheetah and a jaguar by the same adult.
Thinking about the coloured and cows I have to confess that the first year we had our pony he had one of those Derby House Cow Rugs which looked quite funny on a bright bay pony.
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Post by sometime on Sept 2, 2012 0:33:28 GMT
I can say with absolute certainty that it is not a martian pig
I do think it a little pedantic to expect people to know the different name of every spotty wild cat I agree they should read the label and explain that the Zoo is a place of education and so the information is available readily but perhaps they are just out for a day out and a bit of fun
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Post by ruftytuftyrider on Sept 2, 2012 14:25:28 GMT
Cheetahs, Leopards and jaguars all look different so I don't really think it is pedantic to expect an adult to know the difference - different for children but to get to your late 20s (the age of the lady) and not know the difference seems amazing to me.
I go to the zoo for a day out and a bit of fun but I want to know about the animals I am looking at - if you don't want to know what they are why bother to go to a zoo.
I wouldn't really say knowing the name of the animal you are looking at is education (that would be reading about its lifestyle etc) just basic common sense.
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Post by sometime on Sept 2, 2012 20:30:44 GMT
You are very lucky to have been taught the difference as there are still a lot of people that dont know you get milk from cows I think expecting them to know the difference between Jaguars, cheetahs and leopard is asking a lot.
Lots of adults have never seen a documentary or are even interested in animals but will still go to the zoo expecting some kind of freak show.
So I do think it is only and interested and lucky few that will be able to tell you the difference in the spotty cats.
I am glued to wildlife programmes and have a degree education but I would be lying if I said I knew all the different animals and their various shapes and sizes that had been exhibited in a Zoo.
That is like asking the general public to accurately identify all the native breeds of pony including the difference between fellls and dales and new forests and connemaras which even PUK judges cant manage
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