Developing Activities on Uncharismatic Animals Found at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Authors

Justin Hultquist, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

3-10-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Hultquist, J. March 2022. "Developing Activities on Uncharismatic Animals Found at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium." Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Comments

Copyright Justin Hultquist 2022.

Abstract

The Education Department at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium has a number of educational activities based on charismatic species found there. I wished to develop activities the department may use for less charismatic or misunderstood species at the zoo. I began by surveying the exhibits at the zoo and taking note of what species or groups didn’t receive as much visitor engagement, or what comments were made on species that were incorrect. I then began to brainstorm and narrow down potential species that I could develop an educational activity around. As I began to develop and create activities, a trend I noticed was the higher presence of activities based around uncharismatic aquatic species as opposed to uncharismatic terrestrial species; this was only mostly since aquatic species tended to fill more exotic niches or possess more diverse adaptations compared to terrestrial species. The current final product has ten activities I developed over the course of my summer internship at the Henry Doorly Zoo.