Chapter 7 - Bonding

Summary

To fine-tune understandings of the cultural value of zoos today and further explore how these popular institutions can better achieve their collective conservation mission, Chapter 7 is a deep dive into one of the most important and highly valued dimensions of zoo visiting: human bonding. Having established in Chapters 3 and 5 that public audiences overwhelmingly value zoos as settings for (and of) social engagement, and tend to situate social experiences as a core function that differentiates zoos from other museum types, here we explore human bonding as a sociobiological human need – and a strong and consistent motivation and component of zoogoing – noting that on-site bonding is a social capital development process important to zoos’ collective conservation mission. We outline the sociological concept and psychological value of human bonding and use observation and evidence to assess how live animal stimuli in the safe setting of the zoo provide rich and layered opportunities for dialogue and shared meaning-making, processes that have been shown to build trust, strengthen social bonds, and contribute to the establishment of shared perceptions about valuing and caring for animals and nature.