Abstract: Zoos are one of the essential forms of wildlife tourism, so it is of great significance to explore the behavior of zoo tourist to guide the sustainable development of wildlife tourism. Based on the SOR theory and using the structural equation model, this paper conducted an empirical study to construct and test the influence path among zoo tourists' interactive behavior, perceived value, and behavioral intention from the perspective of environmental ethics. The study found that: (1) the environmental ethics held by zoo tourists directly affects their interactive behaviors and leads to corresponding behavioral intentions; (2) interactive behaviors and perceived values play a complex mediating role between environmental ethics and behavioral intentions; (3) interactive behaviors under environmental ethics form a four-stage transmission mechanism of "ethical orientation-interactive stimuli-perceived values-behavioral intentions". This paper provides a beneficial supplement for the study of interactive behavior in the context of animal tourism theoretically, explores the guiding role of environmental ethics in animal tourism, and provides ideas for the future development of zoo tourist attractions at the practical level.

Key words: wildlife tourism, interactive behavior, perceived value, behavioral intention, environmental ethics, zoo