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Introduction
People visit zoos to gaze at wild animals originating from different habitats. These exotic wild animals symbolize nature's wildness contradicting culture - mankind's attempts to control the nature. Animals, especially mammals, serve as a boundary between nature and humans ([5] Desmond, 1999). Zoos enable humans to access nature through animals. Zoos are not natural phenomena; instead, they are a cultural enterprise. Zoos represent nature in a cultural form. [1] Anderson (1995) argues that zoos serve as a cultural domestication of nature. "The dominant culture's capacity for domesticating nature had been gloriously sublimated in the social creation that was the Adelaide Zoo" ([1] Anderson, 1995, p. 284).
A zoo's front region displaying animal exhibitions exemplifies the "culturalization of nature" ([5] Desmond, 1999, p. 176). This paper distinguishes between the zoo's front and back regions, paralleling businesses' front and back offices. [7] Goffman (1990, p. 115) coined the terms "front region" and "back region". The two regions strongly delineate the business atmosphere and function. These regional distinctions also problematize the "tourist gaze" consisting of viewer and viewed ([20] Urry, 1991, p. 1).
Well-designed zoos attract many tourists. The zoo's front region stages a playful atmosphere creating a sense of amusement. Animal houses, restaurants and souvenir shops are themed carefully with animal images aggressively promoting consumer goods. [2] Bryman (2008) confirms that "theming" helps to provide an entertaining environment. In such an environment, animal images are enthusiastically consumed by tourists by through shopping and taking pictures. The tourists appear interested in gazing at animals through the viewfinders of cameras as well as with the naked eye.
Traditional Japanese zoos confined animals to small pens presenting just their physical presence to the public. In contrast, new displays emphasize animal behavior in pseudo-habitats rather than just their figures or forms as a marketing strategy. Hokkaido's Asahiyama Zoo first created pseudo-habitats and many Japanese zoos soon followed. Zoo visitors now see animals living in more spacious displays and exhibiting more natural behavior. This development arguably shifts the direction of the gaze from animals to their behavior, especially "species-specific behavior" ([5] Desmond, 1999, p. 165; [14] Kosuge, 2006, p. 18).
However, the new method, supported by the media, gives tourists an entertaining impression of animals, leading to misconceptions about their behavior....