The effects of immersive exhibits on animal behaviour, welfare, and visitor experience.

大多数现代动物园在其使命宣言中都有四个主要目标：保护、教育、娱乐和科学研究。他们必须在完成这一任务的同时，尽可能地为他们车里的动物保持最高的福利标准，这可能是具有挑战性的。例如，提供围栏使动物能够表达它们的自然行为(Cappell&Thorpe，2022)，并选择是否对公众可见，这对福利、保护和教育都很重要。然而，这些措施可能会使游客不容易看到动物，这可能会影响动物园的教育作用，这可能会减少他们支持所有活动的收入(Sherwen等人，2019年；Williams等人)。2022年)。身临其境的展品不断有付费的教育护林员，但尚不清楚护林员与参观者的互动是否增加了他们从展览中获得的知识或乐趣。最后，动物园中非保护繁殖物种的身临其境的展品有什么价值：它们是否增加了游客的参与度、感知或知识，以及它们对动物福利有何影响？该项目将通过与Twycross动物园和其他适当的动物园密切合作来解决这一研究差距。该项目将结合对动物园动物的行为研究来获得它们的福利，并将游客与关于游客态度、知识和体验的问卷相结合，以调查这些复杂的影响。从这些数据中获得的知识将被用来帮助进行围栏修改和管理变化，以鼓励自然行为，从而支持和告知未来的保护繁殖和重新引入，同时保持展品的教育作用。它将集中展示各种分类群的沉浸式围栏，如彩虹斑羚(Trichoglossus Haematodus)、家山羊(Capra Hircus)和苏门答腊虎(Panthera Tgris Sumatrae)，以及混合物种雀类和蝴蝶漫步展品，将动物的行为、人类的行为以及游客在这些围栏周围的态度和经历与更传统的围栏中相同或类似物种的行为进行比较。其目的是提供一个证据基础，使动物园能够在其使命范围内管理相互竞争的目标之间的平衡。

Most modern zoos have four main goals built into their mission statements: conservation, education, entertainment, and scientific research. They must complete this while also maintaining the highest welfare standards possible for the animals in their car, which can be challenging. For example, providing enclosures which enable animals to express their natural behaviours (Chappell & Thorpe, 2022), and choose whether to be 'viewable to the public' or not, is important for welfare, conservation and education. However, these measures can make animals less easy for visitors to see, which potentially impacts upon the zoos' educational role, which can reduce their income to support all their activities (Sherwen et al., 2019; Williams et al. 2022). Immersive exhibits are continually staffed by paid education rangers, but it is unknown whether the rangers' interactions with visitors increase the knowledge or enjoyment they get from the exhibit. Finally, what is the value of immersive exhibits of non-conservation breeding species in zoos: do they increase visitor engagement, perceptions or knowledge, and how do they impact upon animal welfare? This project will address this research gap by working closely with Twycross Zoo, and other zoos where appropriate. The project will combine behavioural studies on zoo animals to access their welfare, and visitors with questionnaires on visitors' attitudes, knowledge and experience, to investigate these complex effects. Knowledge gained from this data will then be used to assist with enclosure modifications and management changes to encourage natural behaviours, which support and inform future conservation breeding and reintroduction, while maintaining the exhibit's educational role. It will focus on immersive enclosures for a variety of taxa e.g. rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus), domestic goats (Capra hircus), and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae), as well as mixed species finch and butterfly walk-through exhibits, comparing the behaviour of animals, the behaviour of humans, and the attitudes and experiences of visitors around these enclosures with those of the same or similar species in more traditional enclosures. The aim is to provide an evidence base enabling zoos to manage the balance between the competing goals within their mission.