Saturday, August 27, 2005

A Human Zoo (really)

"Warning Humans in their Natural Environment"

The London Zoo did an extensive search of 30 applicants to take part in it's 4 day Human Zoo project. 8 lucky Homo sapiens were chosen, among them are a veterinary science undergraduate, a chemist, a kickboxer, a professional dancer, and an actor. Three more human species will enter the exhibit today.

During the August Bank holiday, a flock of Homo sapiens have temporarily taken up residency on the world famous Bear Mountain. The project started on Friday, August 26th & closes on Monday, August 29th.

The humanoids will be fed a vegetarian diet, cared for & kept entertained by the zookeepers. They've been given such toys as a football, some hula hoops and a Connect 4 game. They were told to wear their swimsuits & pinned to those are fig leaves, for the sake of modesty. The flock will spend 8 hours daily in it's 'nest'. Unlike other primates, this lucky group of 8 will be let out each night to sleep in the comfort of their own bed.

There seem to be 3 purposes for this exhibit:

1) To show that humans are primates too.

When spokesperson Polly Wills, of the London Zoo heard these questions asked by children & other visitors, "Why are there people in there?" Ms. Mills gladly responded, "Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate." It also, she conceded, lets them "have a gawk at people."

2) Educate the public on the dangers of Homo sapiens:

Since evolving from primordial slime, the species they represent has been responsible for destroying 844 other species, and some 800 million of its own kind. Nearly 15,600 separate species are believed to be threatened with extinction caused by human activity.




3) Overpopulation of humans:

To underline the point, displays outside the enclosure comparing humans with chimpanzees and gorillas note that more humans are born every hour than the existing population of the two other apes.

According to The New Zealand Herald few of the public's responses regarding the exhibit were:

11-year-old Rory said: "Cool, I want to have a go? It looks like Baywatch up there. And they even get a better view of the monkeys."

Justine Appleby, 34, said: "I did a double take when I saw them - for a split second, I found myself thinking, 'blimey, what kind of animals are they? It's actually quiet a powerful message - what if we are so successful in destroying our environment that one day the only place you could see human beings is in a zoo?"




Since the July, 7 bombings in UK, the zoo's visits have declined by 30%. August normally contributes for approximately 25% of it's annual income, according to Simon Rayner, the zoo's head of communications & also the original brain behind the Human Zoo. Hopefully, this creative Homo sapien exhibit will help bring more 2 footed visitors.

Technorati tags: human zoo, simon rayner, primates, homo sapiens, environment, over population, london zoo

posted by jane at 2:27 PM