Animals that should be walkthrough but aren't?

Gazelles and penguins shouldn't be walkthrough animals either.
I agree about the gazelles. I don't know about any zoo with a walkthrough habitat for antelopes because of obvious reasons, some species are too stressed easily and often the males even of the smaller species are too dangerous.
But I definitely disagree about the penguins. There is more than one zoo with a walkthrough habitat for one of the smaller penguin species (Humboldt, African, Magellan) and it works fine. But it's entering on your own risk, if the penguin hurt your fingers, it's basically your own fault.

I don't think that the camels and badgers should be walkthrough species. Both are too dangerous. Same counts for the giant anteater as already said. And the pangolin is a bad choice for a walkthrough species, too, but it has already been said.

That people feed animals in walkthrough enclosures or petting zoos is a general problem though, and a lot of zoos have guides in the enclosures to take care of this.
 
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I personally stoped allowing walkthrough as my flamingos and lemurs get too stressed. It’s a cool idea but just creates problems.
At a place I worked, we allow guests to come into the seabird aviary. I would explain to them not to touch the birds, curious and rude guests would occasionally touch them and get bit by the birds or the birds would be distressed. Made me realize guests are too untrustworthy around animals.
Anyway animals can certainly get very defensive when stressed so realistically I’m gonna pass on adding walkthrough habitats. Observance without disturbance.
 
Badgers are extremely poor candidates for walkthrough. They're fasts, strong, powerful, territorial and mustelids - they can really hurt you. Our zoo has mostly ended any form of 'walkthrough' you can go to a small petting area where you can reach over a low fence and pet goats and such, or a keeper (a volunteer really) will hold an animal for children to pet but there's no free access to any animal anymore, no matter how domestic or sturdy the species. Due to a huge amount of terrible videos end etc (IMO), people have gotten very stupid around animals - trying to go play with a bison calf (and getting trampled), climbing into an elephant enclosure with your toddler, feeding bears, etc. - and the result tends to be killing the animal if they hurt someone when I think it's the idiot who should be shot.
 
REd Pandas should be walkthrough. I mean, I know they're not in real life so in that they shouldn't be. but I want them to be. Actually I want them to be in real life too lol.

I think these are good suggestions overall though. Agree about the badger being a bad walkthrough choice. In general mustelids are pretty aggressive and not compatible with humans. Even otters.
 
Although it funny when the guy trying to jump onto the bucking bronco falls off then gets kicked😂...

But yeah, I don't know of any walkthrough animal enclosures at my local zoo besides the petting zoo, which is closed right now anyways, and 1 aviary (but there's almost always a keeper at both locations)
 
I mean, I absolutely love them and they're really cute, and can act cute, but otters are pretty vicious.
You haven't met Oscar😂...

Oscar is a NA river otter that was rescued as a pup by some locals in Louisiana. They raised him until he was old enoughto be on his own; it was hard, because they got attached, but in the end it was the right thing to do
 
Even otters.
I once talked to an otter keeper at Auckland Zoo who had been bitten twice. She said it didn't draw blood, but it felt like being smacked with a hammer on the hand and it bruised so badly she couldn't use her hand for a week. It's lucky the otter didn't break her skin because the infection would be rapid - not poisonous, of course, but still bad.
 
In Wellington Zoo you can pay a big chunk of money to go into the red panda habitat with a keeper for a special close encounter. The spots are extremely limited and it only happens once per day for a few minutes.
One day.....it's a pipe dream!

Every time I see the pictures of them being "larger and more threatening" I just want to hug them. I don't really have that with any other animals. I like them but I think if given a half opportunity I really might cuddle a Red Panda.
 
But I definitely disagree about the penguins. There is more than one zoo with a walkthrough habitat for one of the smaller penguin species (Humboldt, African, Magellan) and it works fine.
I doubt any of us knows enough about the situation to be qualified to say it "works fine". If "works fine" just means there aren't major incidents, then sure. I'm generally opposed to walkthrough habitats anyway, though. The animals shouldn't be in close contact with humans any more than necessary for them and their care.
 
I mean, if you want to realistically think about walkthroughs ... you need to think about several things:

How physically durable and temperamentally calm is the animal? Like if a toddler yanked on the animal's ear, would it be injured (as would be the case for many smaller animals), is it more likely to jerk away and run or strike out (most walkthrough and domestic animals are not predators - their first response to stress is to retreat). The more naturally social an animal is, the more likely it'll have some less dangerous behaviors to resolve stress (not in all cases but still). Can the animal withstand a kid throwing a small rock at them, pulling on an ear, pushing or grabbing them, an instagrammer trying to climb or drape themselves over the animal, or pick it up? There are usually keepers everywhere but they don't always catch a problem in time - the animal has to be able to withstand the human tendency to be stupid.

How likely is it that an animal's aggressive response will hurt someone? Sure, domestic goats can butt but the vast majority of the time, that just knocks someone over and bruises them. A badger's defensive response involves sharp teeth, same for a red panda. The idea that a giant anteater is a walkthrough animal is flabbergasting to me - the disembowl predators with those claws.

How endangered is the animal? Zoos aren't going to interfere with an animal's potential to mate/be released into the wild by wasting their time in a walkthrough. Even for the most domestic and calm animal the crowds and disruption of walk-throughs are stressful. Endangered animals tend to be shy anyway - they'd never breed under those circumstances.

How likely is that illnesses can transmit between the species and humans? Thus, zoos avoid exposing primates to human contact - it's one reason you'll often see glass walls between guests and primates - protection for the animals against snotty humans and vice versa. As we see more and more transmission between humans and animals, I expect we'll see more and more restrictions in interaction.

Some animals have such a long history of human interaction in zoos that they continue even though it's not smart: flamingos - generally too fragile but while you can walk through their exhibit, they tend to stay well out of reach. Zebras - other semi-wild equines, stupid idea but we're so used to it. Used to be you could feed elephants but ... well, that was a dumb idea and I don't think anyone does it anymore.

Most reputable walk-throughs use domestic animals only: they can hurt you but are so human adapted that they generally won't. So, the domestic camel should be a walk through, like the llama, for example.
 
No. Imagine getting rammed by those horns.
Funfact: male Dall Sheep sometimes throw each other off Cliffs while fighting.
So I think at least the males wouldn't be suitable for a walkthrough Enclosure because they seem to be very aggressive sometimes
 
Funfact: male Dall Sheep sometimes throw each other off Cliffs while fighting.
So I think at least the males wouldn't be suitable for a walkthrough Enclosure because they seem to be very aggressive sometimes
But then a male fallow deer probably is also not a good walkthrough enclosure animal. Or any male ungulate i guess. Especially during the mating season.
 
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