What kind of zoo could make an emotionally stable capybara become anxious?

Capybara is undoubtedly one of the hottest animals this year.

Aren’t all kinds of Capybara dolls very healing just by looking at them? | Left: Vincy; Right: Wing Wolf Elang

With its sense of security that the collapse of the sky and the cracks of the earth have nothing to do with me, and its affinity to welcome all friends, it has become a totem of faith for working people. It is also because of these characteristics that capybaras are an ideal choice for zoo displays - in addition to the pools required for their semi-aquatic life, capybaras themselves do not have high requirements for cages; coupled with their low aggressiveness, they can be raised with many animals and are not prone to conflicts.

In a wildlife park in Guangzhou, capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea) are kept together. They sleep together in a harmonious scene｜Elang the Winged Wolf

I once thought that it was very difficult to raise a capybara with problems, but recently in an "indoor zoo" in Guangzhou, I saw a capybara living in a state of nervous anxiety .

Capybara with tight muscles

Capybaras are the largest rodents in existence. In zoos, they rarely feel threatened and do not need to guard against predators every day. Living a comfortable life with three meals a day is a sign of emotional stability. However, there is always a type of place that constantly refreshes my perception of the "worst zoo" - that is the indoor zoo that I have been paying attention to, questioning and opposing.

To give you a more intuitive feeling, let's take a look at the pictures first. The capybaras in the following three pictures all seem to be resting, but judging from the details, their states are actually very different.

This is a capybara in a wildlife park in Guangzhou: it is in a truly relaxed posture, and its facial muscles are relatively relaxed.

This is a capybara in the rainforest pavilion of a shopping mall in Guangzhou: although it is lying down to rest, its ears are always tense and erect . When someone approaches, its eyes will quickly move following the person's movements . This is a posture of tension or stress.

This is a capybara in a "zoo" inside a shopping mall in Guangzhou: This capybara was in the worst condition. When I saw it, its ears were stretched straight (pushed back close to its head), its pupils were noticeably contracted, and its muscles all over its body were very tense .

Steal the bathtub from the old man

Why are the three capybaras in different states? We can easily find the answer from the cages . The environment and layout of the three cages are different. The most obvious point is that in the last two cages, the bathing uncle no longer has a bathtub .

Although the last two cages have "ponds", the ponds look like this:

The water in these two pools is no more than 20 centimeters deep, and the shallowest is less than a foot deep. Even if the capybara lies prone, the water is probably only up to its chin. Such so-called pools can only be regarded as "human enrichment" and are only for show. They are not completely useless in meeting the living needs of animals .

For capybaras, the pool is a safe area to avoid predators. In the wild, capybaras, which are large, meaty, and not very resistant, are simply mobile protein cans in the eyes of predators. When they are hunted, capybaras will choose to escape into the water, relying on their better swimming skills and lung capacity to avoid danger.

Even in captivity, when they feel threatened, anxious, or want to avoid being watched, capybaras will instinctively seek out a body of water to soak their entire bodies in, thereby relieving stress . Therefore, when the pool is not deep enough for them to soak their entire bodies, the "bath turns into a foot bath" environment is simply not enough for capybaras to feel safe. Without the ability to release stress, their mental state will naturally deteriorate.

Inaccessible pool

In the "indoor zoo" shown in Figure 3 above, I also witnessed this scene: in order to relieve its stress, the capybara chose a small basin of drinking water and soaked its hind feet in it with great difficulty.

Since there is a so-called "pool" next to it, why doesn't it soak in it directly, but choose a shallower drinking bowl where even its four legs can't soak? This is another problem - this kind of pool with smooth and vertical walls is not convenient for animals to enter and leave .

Human swimming pools can be built vertically because we have very strong upper limbs that can support our entire bodies; even if there is no gentle slope on the edge of the pool, we can use our arms to support our entire bodies out of the water. But if quadrupedal animals want to get out of the water, they can only "walk". Even if they need to "jump" out, they can only rely on their forelimbs to fix themselves, and then rely on their strong hind limbs to "push" themselves up - essentially, they rely on the hind limbs to "walk" a short distance on the wall.

Moreover, the pool wall is very "friendly" with tiles for easy cleaning...

Therefore, this kind of pool with smooth walls and straight ups and downs has no leverage for capybaras to get out. Even if they muster up the courage to jump in, they still have to spend a lot of effort to struggle out of it... Weighing the pros and cons, it is probably better not to jump in.

As for the other pool, it looks like it has a lot of rockery and seems to have enough gentle slopes, so why are the capybaras still unwilling to go there? The answer may be a bit stupid - because the way to the pool requires climbing a slope, and all the ways to climb up are blocked by ducks ...

“Eliminate all the impossible, and whatever remains, no matter how impossible it is, is the truth.”｜Elang

Therefore, no matter how “beautiful” the “pools” in these two “indoor zoos” are, they are ineffective enrichment and have no effect at all.

Their evil is far more than this.

It turns out that expecting an "indoor zoo" to take good care of animals is nothing short of a fantasy.

We paid attention to these "indoor zoos" four years ago. They are small and cannot provide animals with enough space and enrichment, and there is a risk of spreading germs (click to view the past article: "The recently popular "mini zoos" are cheating people out of money"). Four years have passed, we have experienced the epidemic, and have received so much propaganda that wild animals can spread zoonotic diseases; but these "indoor zoos" have not only failed to handle the relationship between humans and animals well, but have done worse.

In addition to the cage design issues mentioned in this article, they also encourage visitors, especially children, to touch and feed the animals . There is no isolation or protection between people and animals, or between animals. What shocked me the most was that for animals like skunks, which have the ability to cause harm to humans (smell and mentally), they did not use any shielding at all and kept them in open cages.

Skunk, no isolation | Wing Wolf Elang

There are no protective measures between animals and humans, which increases the possibility of cross-infection of zoonotic diseases , and also makes it impossible to guarantee the safety of both parties. In the "mall rainforest pavilion" mentioned above, I witnessed an unisolated alpaca attacking a staff member; in the "indoor zoo", the staff slapped and drove away the animals at will.

In other words, in these so-called "indoor zoos", there is no good relationship between the keepers and the animals. The operators of these "zoos" only regard the animals as objects, not independent individuals with lives. As long as they can make money, they don't care whether the animals are in good living conditions, whether the animals are physically and mentally healthy, and whether the animals' needs are met - after all, in their view, if this batch of animals gets sick and dies, they can just buy a new batch with the money given by tourists .

A groundhog with severe skin problems and a groundhog that is seriously overweight due to overfeeding | Winged Wolf Elang

In such an environment, children visiting the park may be led to develop wrong ideas and only regard living animals as animals that can be touched and played with at will, rather than recognizing them as lives equivalent to humans. They may even engage in extreme behaviors that ignore and harm lives.

It is worth mentioning that recently, there have been propaganda such as "feeding wild marmots with bare hands" and "bringing children to close contact with animals" on major social media. This is also completely wrong guidance, ignoring the safe distance between humans and wild animals . In the end, only the animals and ourselves will be hurt.

Screenshot of a social software. The red box shows the "indoor zoo" in Figure 3 above. There are also a lot of recommended articles and videos, encouraging parents to take their children to visit...

When we go to the zoo, we should receive education about nature and life and have fun by observing animals. In the process, children will also learn to respect, tolerate and love all kinds of life and have a heart that can generate empathy and care.

Excellent zoos can provide real nature education, but these "indoor zoos" can only provide experiences that place animals above other lives and are indifferent and ruthless to animals - in these "indoor zoos" that use lives to cheat people out of money, all children will see is cruelty and darkness!

As consumers, each of our tickets is our own attitude and choice - I believe everyone will make the most sensible judgment.

(PS: If this doesn’t impress you, then think about this: the ticket to a regular zoo is only 20 yuan, while the ticket prices of these “indoor zoos” are often dozens or even hundreds of yuan…)

Author: Wing Wolf Elang

Editor: Mai Mai

Title image source: Elang