Part of the mission of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has always been to raise awareness of all animals, not just the cute, furry ones. So you might think that we would welcome the fact that the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is trying to educate visitors about alligators and crocodiles, two of the most misunderstood animals on the planet.
And we would, if the museum's "Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World" exhibit didn't involve confining intelligent, sensitive animals to tiny glass boxes and encouraging people to support the cruel exotic-skins trade. In its current form, the museum's exhibit is exploitative, not educational, and sends the harmful message that wild animals are ours to dominate and use for profit. The AMNH should align its actions with its professed intention — to instill in visitors a "greater appreciation" for these animals — by shutting this exhibit down.
Alligators and crocodiles are wild animals whose specialized needs can never be met in captivity. In their natural homes, alligators thrive in rivers and lakes and travel long distances with members of their own kind.
Researchers have found that the hundreds of dots along the jaws of alligators and crocodiles are sensory organs that are more sensitive to touch than human fingertips. This makes sense, because mother alligators use their jaws as we would use our hands: to gently crack open their eggs and carry their babies.
Crocodile interrupts Australian couple's nighttime swim
Alligators talk to one another through hisses, yelps, coughs and other sounds, and crocodiles can recognize their own names, as a pair of dwarf crocodiles at a facility in England have demonstrated.
A University of Tennessee psychology professor who has spent 3,000 hours observing crocodiles released a study showing that alligators and crocodiles even play: Crocodiles surf ocean waves for fun, young alligators repeatedly slide down slopes and baby alligators go for rides on their older friends' backs.
But in captivity, they are reduced to props, subjected to unnecessary stress and discomfort and exposed to noisy crowds and screaming children who bang on the glass tanks.
Even worse, the exhibit includes a sign encouraging visitors to buy products made from ranched crocodile skins. Even after PETA sent the museum's president undercover footage of crocodiles being made to suffer horribly in the exotic-skins trade, this sign remains up as part of the exhibit. Is this really the message that we want to send to our children?
Jaguar kills alligator by biting into the back of its skull
From Texas to Zimbabwe, PETA eyewitnesses have documented the terrible conditions in which alligators and crocodiles are factory-farmed for "luxury" handbags, belts and watchbands.
On a Texas alligator farm, PETA's eyewitness found alligators in dank, dark sheds with water so fetid that it made the skin on their sensitive jaws raw, which a manager admitted was painful. Some were still conscious, kicking and flailing, even minutes after their necks were literally sawed open in a crude attempt to kill them.
In Zimbabwe, tens of thousands of Nile crocodiles are confined to concrete pits-deprived of everything natural and important to them-from birth to slaughter. It takes three to four crocodiles to make just one "luxury" bag.
Putting live animals on display does not help children learn about them. An article in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums magazine Connect detailed a study that found visitors to zoos rarely "retained even a few basic facts" from animal displays. When asked, "What did you learn at this exhibit?" the most common answer was "Nothing."
As the AMNH's own dinosaur wing perfectly illustrates, with a little creativity, we can inspire children to care and learn about animals without using captive animals as props.
Confining animals to cages or tanks and exploiting them for their skins is a relic of an unenlightened past. PETA urges the AMNH to relegate "Crocs" to the history books and replace it with a truly educational — and ethical — exhibit. We stand ready to help.
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