Of course this is completely anecdotal, but I was walking around a zoo in a city I'm visiting today and couldn't help but notice how much noisier the zoo was, b

Of course this is completely anecdotal, but I was walking around a zoo in a city I'm visiting today and couldn't help but notice how much noisier the zoo was, both in terms of how much traffic and city noise breaches the walls, and how much noise the visitors make (yelling after each other across the zoo, talking loudly, just generally not attempting to keep their own noise down) when compared to visiting zoos in my home country. I also observed that the animals seemed to be a lot more likely to shy away, and (in my completely not zoological/biological opinion) perhaps even slightly more on edge or distressed in some cases. This also meant whenever an animal was doing something interesting, the visitors would all be interested in that one exhibit, which caused further noise and commotion. I couldn't help but think how much nicer the zoo could've been for both guests and the residents if more of a focus was placed on reducing the noise levels. It was also quite a culture shock to me that smoking was allowed throughout the zoo as it seems to me that a ban would be easily justified on the grounds of animal comfort/welfare (not to forget all the children walking around, too).