A Graveyard of Dinosaurs

When the days get shorter and leaves start to fall, there’s always a zoo somewhere in the Netherlands that gets taken over by dinosaurs. In previous years, I’ve covered dinosaur events at ZooParc Overloon and the former Dierenrijk, now Eindhoven Zoo. This year, to my mild surprise, it was the turn of our biggest and best zoo, the legendary Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem. Of course, the general quality of Burgers’, combined with the pretty great animatronic dinosaurs on display at Kölner Zoo earlier this year, might have led me to have high expectations. Was this zoo, the yardstick by which I tend to measure all other zoos, going to offer another quality event?

Seeing footage of the actual dinosaurs in situ quickly led me to temper those expectations somewhat, because these were clearly the very same floppy, slack-jawed, barely-working, low-quality Chinasaurs seen at Overloon and Eindhoven. Still, it could be a good time, right? Time to get on the old trolley bus I’ve taken so many times. I grew up with this place.

This event ran until 5 November, the day before I publish this, which means this is a review of an event you can no longer visit. I’m sorry. I kinda didn’t want to write this, so I put it off. The truth is, I can’t tell you this event filled me with joy and wonder for the prehistoric world. In fact, it made me rather sad. I’m afraid dinosaurs are in danger of going extinct.

It’s well established that I like kitschy dinosaur events. There is a cheesy charm to these dinosaurs, to be sure. I didn’t hate some of them. But, after having seen what actual quality looks like, going back to this is a disappointment.

Sometimes, a kitsch expo like this can be saved by good signage. This does not seem to be the case today. There are informational signs that are a few steps behind where modern science stands, and the artwork tends to be mostly stock images.

What is far more calamitous, is that the bigger and clearly “original” signs were absolutely infested with horrible AI dinosaurs. This issue plagued the zoo in Cologne as well.

The result is a poorly constructed event that basically fails on all accounts. The animatronics offer little to be impressed by, the educational content is minimal and the usage of Generative AI is a blight upon the whole event. Even the placement of the dinosaurs throughout the park feels haphazard.

And what made me sadder was thinking “I’m sure nobody cares but me”.

Who cares if the dinosaurs are cheap, clichéd and inaccurate? Who cares if the images are AI? The families will still show up and gawk at dinosaurs anyway, right? It gets more people through the door so the animals can be fed, right? The absolute minimum has been done. The whole thing breathes a kind of mercenary cynicism. It felt a little gross.

It’s the principle of the thing. A modern zoo should be a champion of the protection of nature, and Burgers’ Zoo certainly is a modern zoo. Their famous “ecodisplay” format emphasizes a holistic view on nature, showing full ecosystems rather than just animal species divorced from their natural context. They provide some of the best animal husbandry possible by current standards. Their foundation supports all kinds of projects preserving important ecosystems in the wild. They contribute to biology, environmental science and the education of young conservationists.

I’m sure a handful of AI images by themselves won’t single-handedly destroy the mangrove forests of Belize, but it’s no secret that Generative AI has a massive environmental cost even as we’re facing a climate crisis, the end boss of all crises. The tech boys have given us a shiny new toy that destroys art, destroys thinking and destroys the environment for the sake of some grotesque plagiarized images but hey, at least we won’t have to pay an artist. A penny saved is a penny earned! For a zoo to participate in this destructive decadence is simply inexcusable.

And this is before we even consider the aesthetics of the whole thing, which, let’s be real, is pretty damn important too.

So great is my indignation that I actually sent an angry email to Burgers’ Zoo. If you agree with me, please do the same. The email address is info@burgerszoo.nl . Tell me I’m not the only one who cares.

Dinosaurs, in the form of kitschy parks, expositions and family events, probably aren’t going extinct. But care is going extinct. If we are to save nature, not to mention ourselves, the first thing we need to save is the concept of care. Even care for something as seemingly unimportant as a kitschy family dinosaur event. Burgers’ Zoo remains a stunning park, but last week it was a graveyard of dinosaurs. We’re all going to have to do a whole lot better.