Since the 1970s, research about zoo visitors' effects on the welfare of nonhuman animals in captivity has intensified. Numerous studies have shown that characteristics such as visitor presence, density, activity, size, and position are associated with animal behavioral and—to alesser extent physiological—changes. Studies usually interpret these changes as negative (undesirable) or positive (enriching), but it remains unclear whether they significantly impinge on animal welfare. To make confident conclusions about visitors' effects necessitates more studies using (a) a wider range of animal groupings, (b) measures of stress, (c) visitor-animal variables, and (d) other methodological improvements In the meantime, in addition to further research, individual zoos need to emphasize (a) monitoring the stress indicators of their captive animals, (b) observing visitor behavior, and (c) ensuring that staffs are aware of the “visitor effect” concept.

Every year, millions of high school students sit the Chinese national university entrance exam, and their results determine entry into universities or alternatives such as employment. Limited information about the exam is available in the Western literature even though it determines the future of millions of young people, and is increasingly of relevance to Western university educators. This article reviews Chinese and Western reports to provide an up‐to‐date overview of the exam's key features, including the registration and application procedure, exam content/structure, and use of exam results in determining entry into higher education. There is also an analysis of the exam system's limitations, and implications for Chinese and Western educators.

Visitors are integral components of zoological parks and their importance has led to a research area devoted to understanding the people–zoo relationship. This paper reviews, and provides a point of entry into, the literature relating to visitor research in zoos. The field emerged relatively recently and is diverse and interdisciplinary (it shares common ground with sociology, education, psychology, zoology, and other academic disciplines). Several areas can be identified in the literature (audience analysis, circulation and orientation, exhibit evaluation, and interactions with animals), and these areas have revealed visitors' demographic and behavioral characteristics, people's behavioral responses to endogenous and exogenous factors, the impact of exhibit design, and visitors' movements around zoos. Limitations of existing work include independence between research areas, lack of international studies, limited generalizability of results, and the minority status of the field. Therefore, suggest...