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Staten Island Zoo
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by 23bms on November 29, 2008
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A recent post asked yet another question about 'Banded Eqyptians.' I responded directly, rather than over the forum, as this question had been broached here before and I didn't wish to get involved in yet another argument.
Regardless, I felt one paragraph of the response should be posted here as it is a bit of a sore point. I am sure some one(s) will be OUTRAGED over the following comments for one reason or another. I DON’T CARE.
The excerpt:
"The Staten Island Zoo recently reopened the reptile section with great (undeserved) hullabaloo. One of the exhibits, a particularly ghastly one, has a hapless banded snouted trapped in a display littered with faux ancient Egyptian statuary. The animal is identified as a 'Banded Egyptian', Naja haje. I photographed the animal. It has seven labials. haje has six. annulifera has seven or eight. Kauffeld must be rolling in his grave."
In the above, I forgot to mention the semi-dismembered toy mummies that were mixed with the idiotic statuary.
What on Earth was going through the minds of the people who put that exhibit together??? Not just that exhibit, but the whole rest of the wing. The center island section, that used to contain animals, is almost entirely dedicated to the now apparently mandatory puerile graphics and 'interactive' computer consoles, the content of which insults the intelligence of the average third grader. Sorry, I take that back. That would have been appropriate forty years ago. Today, given the current state of public education, I should have stated, "insults the intelligence of the average high school graduate." (I am sure the AZA people out there can dump millions of words of scholarly dissertation that document the transcendental educational efficacy of this sort of trash.)
If you remember the Staten Island Zoo from the Kauffeld days, don’t go. If you are passing through the greater New York metropolitan area, don’t go. If you happen to find yourself stranded, for some inexplicable reason, on Staten Island in the vicinity of Clove Road, Broadway and Forest Avenue, by all means go. Why not? You’re already there. Otherwise, don’t bother.
This was very painful to write. The SIZ has long been one of my favorite destinations, for many personal reasons. No more.
Now, all you out there may begin to huff and puff in outrage.
jrb
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RE: Staten Island Zoo
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by Rob_Carmichael on November 29, 2008
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That's sad to hear. Kauffeld was one of my herp heroes growing up and I memorized every book he wrote word for word (especially Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept) - back in the day, it was him and just a few others that provided most of our herp hunger pangs (boy have times changed!). I am always sensitive when folks come into my public herp exhibit (Wildlife Discovery Center). I want them saying "wow, those animals were amazing". In the end, Kauffeld's influence shines true in many of my exhibits - simple yet natural looking w/out too much clutter putting the focus and attention on the animal, not the furnishings.
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
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RE: Staten Island Zoo
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by Cro on November 29, 2008
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JRB, you stated: "The center island section, that used to contain animals, is almost entirely dedicated to the now apparently mandatory puerile graphics and 'interactive' computer consoles, the content of which insults the intelligence of the average third grader."
I also hate seeing exhibits like that. It probably was cool stuff back in the early 80's when it first started being seen in museums, but now it has taken over. The new Fernbank Natural History Museum here in Georgia is full of that kind of junk. All kinds of interactive screen displays, and telephones or joy sticks that the kids can use to supposedly learn.
What ever happened with actual exhibits with well thought out habitats for the animals those exhibits housed ?
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Staten Island Zoo
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by Thing on November 30, 2008
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I have seen photos of said snake and exhibit and was disgusted also. To my somewhat untrained eye the snake actually appears to be a banded N.anchietae. The eye scales and the fact that the light bands are wider than the dark makes me think this.
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RE: Staten Island Zoo
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by 23bms on December 2, 2008
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Phobos,
I would certainly be interested to hear their side.
In reading my prior comments, bear in mind that they are made from the perspective of someone who frequently visited the place during it's glory days under Kauffeld and who went often enough in later decades to appreciate it's subsequent - in my opinion - decline (I am confining my discussion to the reptile wing). Those comments are clearly subjective. Someone visiting for the first time might well feel differently. Maybe not. My wife, who had visited SIZ only once before, about five years ago, and who is rarely critical of such things, flatly stated that it wasn't worth another trip, an unusually harsh judgment for her. That was before I had ventured any of my own thoughts.
In a subsequent post, I will make some further observations. In all fairness, some aspects of the wing and certain displays have been markedly improved. Others decidedly not.
I will not back down one iota on my criticism of the 'Egyptian' display (regardless of excuses offered), or the disastrous loss of display space to the wretched condescending interactive 'educational' nonsense that seems to be de rigueur in museums and zoos today. Nor am I likely to alter my opinion that herp enthusiasts, particularly older ones who remember SIZ as it once was, WILL be disappointed.
Thing,
You may be right. My photos are not good enough to definitively argue annulifera or anchietae. They are good enough to rule out haje.
jrb
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RE: Staten Island Zoo
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by Thing on December 2, 2008
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check out www.flickr.com/photos/neatnessdotcom/1502421628/
really good photo of the snake
snake is listed as N. annulifera on ISIS
still looks like N. anchietae to me
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