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Z is for Zoochosis

I watched this polar bear at the Toronto Zoo this summer. He had a disturbing swimming routine. He swam back and forth and pushed off on the same rock over and over and over. It was heartbreaking. I looked it up and realized there is a word for this animal behaviour: zoochosis.I assume this is the same bear: https://youtu.be/LZ6Nxrbdxl8How do you feel about animals in captivity?
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  • Oh...how sweet....and now, who can say that we are different?? Who can know that exactly???

  • wow sweaty polar bear

  • Oh my God, Tara, i saw the video and i was shocked! From a young age I was thinking that zoos are like prison for animals. I agree with the protection of certain animals in large areas in their natural environment so as not to feel limited, but not to the exhibition and mistreatment of them for the profit. People should become more sensitive and stop going to the zoos!

    The last years there is a law against circuses with animals. Performances with animals in circuses are banned anymore. The same should be done with zoos. Animals and people, both need the freedom to live.

    Zoochosis, i guess is a similar word to the word psychosis. Psychosis for people, zoochosis for animals.

  • I'm watching this video about Zoochosis, and at the 13:00 mark, a zoo expert mentions that polar bears are a species that possibly should not be kept in captivity. 

    One reason I took my kids to the zoo this summer was to let them form their own opinions about whether or not zoos should exist. My dolphin lovers have already decided that they don't ever want to go to another aquarium. 

    “Ultimately, everyone can accept that a zoo’s a visitor attraction, so obviously if there weren’t the people visiting the zoos then there wouldn’t be the demand for zoos and the zoos would gradually sort of disappear. So I think the public have a huge part to play in controlling the industry. It’s supply and demand as with anything else.” [19:37]

  • "The term “zoochosis” was coined in 1992 by Bill Travers to characterize the obsessive, repetitive behaviors exhibited by animals kept in captivity."  Kate Good

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