Investigating Visitor Activity on a Safari Drive

Abstract

Despite increasing studies focusing on the visitor experience in zoological collections, minimal attention has been paid to visitor activity when driving through safari parks. The dwell time of visitors at exhibits within a traditional zoo setting has offered a good method to measure exhibit and species popularity, but studying visitors on a safari drive offers a unique set of challenges, with factors such as road length skewing a basic dwell time measurement. Therefore, the current study proposes that average speed offers a robust means to investigate visitor activity on a safari drive. Average speed was found to be significantly different depending on species exhibited, with primates and felids eliciting slower speeds and bovids and cervids faster speeds. This result broadly mirrors that of traditional zoo studies where primates elicit longer dwell times. Future safari drive studies could help inform decisions made on a safari drive for aspects such a collection planning, drive layout and exhibit design. Harnessing tracking technology, e.g., GPS, alongside more diverse methodologies, such as questionnaires and multi-institutional approaches, would further allow more robust conclusions to be drawn.

Gastrointestinal parasites in captive olive baboons in a UK safari park

“…Our coprological investigation clarified and quantified the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites of public health importance within a UK colony of captive olive baboons, open to the public via vehicle safari. Our survey design took advantage of seminal information from Lloyd et al (2021) who documented general vehicle movements and animal activities, across several KS drivethrough areas. Vehicle-faecal contamination rates were relatively stable across the 4 survey days: Sa (13.8%), Sb (14.9%), Sc (12.8%) and Sd (13.7%), with an overall contamination rate of 13.9%.…”

“…Our survey design took advantage of seminal information from Lloyd et al . ( 2021 ) who documented general vehicle movements and animal activities, across several KS drive-through areas. Vehicle-faecal contamination rates were relatively stable across the 4 survey days: Sa (13.8%), Sb (14.9%), Sc (12.8%) and Sd (13.7%), with an overall contamination rate of 13.9%.…”

“…Each year, KS attracts around 600 000 paying visitors and runs extensive onsite public education campaigns about wildlife conservation and management. Its most popular enclosure on the safari drive is the baboon enclosure (Lloyd et al ., 2021 ). Here, around 240 captive baboons reside within a ring-fenced 6.4-hectare compound, with 2 roofed sleeping areas, and 845 m of circular tarmac road ( Fig.…”