A precious and cynical child might well think a trip to the museum is just as good, if not better, than a trip to the zoo. Many museums now have vast exhibits of animals, exotic and otherwise, in areas conveniently compact and indoors, well buffeted from climatic elements all year round.
The small print in that situation, though, is the minor detail that the animals aren't moving - a predictable consequence of being dead (and stuffed). But, the truth is, back in my precious kid days, plenty of zoos had animals that moved about with a frequency that might lead to suspicion that they were stuffed.
One can say now though, with some relief, that behind us now is the days when zoos were largely animal museums. In fact, it's almost come to the point that the barometer for measuring the best zoos in America is precisely the degree to which one distinguishes itself from these older model zoos.
The best zoos now are not storage displays - warehouses with bars - but active participants in the cultivation and preservation of the earth's wildlife. They have facilities and missions for research and enterprise to help preserve wildlife in its natural habitat.
The result of these mission defining initiatives is a symbiosis: the lessons learned about optimum wildlife habitat preservation enables more rigorous habitat design within the modern zoo. This creates an environment far better suited to the zoo's animals. The result is a greatly more stimulating and rewarding experience for everyone involved.
Now that animals in zoos can live in environments so much better fit to their evolved dispositions, a whole new level of vitality is injected into the experience. The animals enjoy levels of energy and curiosity which had been suppressed under the conditions of closed confines characteristic of earlier zoos. As a consequence, they are far livelier, playful and engaged with their habitat and fellow residents.
Not only does this make for psychologically and physically healthier conditions for the animals, but it provides a more enjoyable zoo-going experience for us. The energy and vitality of animals living in a stimulating environment, sculpted to their evolutionary needs, means we get to see animals that are alive and engaged. This is exciting in itself.
Furthermore, as the animals' living experience is so much better suited to their evolved disposition, such zoos become far more effective learning opportunities than ever could have been the old stand-and-gawk zoos of my youth. This is a wonderful development for all zoo guests.
One of the great outcomes of this new style zoo has been the construction of far vaster ranges for the animals to live within. This improvement in the living conditions of the animals, though, has posed challenges regarding the means to allow zoo visitors to experience the animals in this new habitat, without undermining its initial virtues. Leaders in the zoo community addressed these challenges with various kinds of carry-through technology and process reorganization. These have included monorails, safari tours and walk through zones.
To identify the best zoos in America , or anywhere in the world, then, it all comes together into a cohesive whole. The conservationist agenda, the new expansive facility designs, the applications of leading technology, in the hands of the most deft zoo keepers and their support staff, have blossomed into a zoological renaissance.
Such a renaissance has had profound impacts upon the modern zoo visitor. In place of the old museum zoos we now enjoy experiences as rich in learning opportunities as in sheer exotic awe. Our new zoos inspire an experience which verges on the otherworldly. We now enjoy the remarkable opportunity for a kind of communion with other kinds of life. These other lives, certainly, are different from our own. And yet, at the same time, no doubt due to the consequence of a common evolutionary past, in some uncanny sense there remains something that strangely resonates with us.
Herein lay the real magic of the best zoos in America. They pull off this remarkable feat of somehow combining the power and lessons of contemporary science and technology while in the process allowing us to experience something of the sublime.
The small print in that situation, though, is the minor detail that the animals aren't moving - a predictable consequence of being dead (and stuffed). But, the truth is, back in my precious kid days, plenty of zoos had animals that moved about with a frequency that might lead to suspicion that they were stuffed.
One can say now though, with some relief, that behind us now is the days when zoos were largely animal museums. In fact, it's almost come to the point that the barometer for measuring the best zoos in America is precisely the degree to which one distinguishes itself from these older model zoos.
The best zoos now are not storage displays - warehouses with bars - but active participants in the cultivation and preservation of the earth's wildlife. They have facilities and missions for research and enterprise to help preserve wildlife in its natural habitat.
The result of these mission defining initiatives is a symbiosis: the lessons learned about optimum wildlife habitat preservation enables more rigorous habitat design within the modern zoo. This creates an environment far better suited to the zoo's animals. The result is a greatly more stimulating and rewarding experience for everyone involved.
Now that animals in zoos can live in environments so much better fit to their evolved dispositions, a whole new level of vitality is injected into the experience. The animals enjoy levels of energy and curiosity which had been suppressed under the conditions of closed confines characteristic of earlier zoos. As a consequence, they are far livelier, playful and engaged with their habitat and fellow residents.
Not only does this make for psychologically and physically healthier conditions for the animals, but it provides a more enjoyable zoo-going experience for us. The energy and vitality of animals living in a stimulating environment, sculpted to their evolutionary needs, means we get to see animals that are alive and engaged. This is exciting in itself.
Furthermore, as the animals' living experience is so much better suited to their evolved disposition, such zoos become far more effective learning opportunities than ever could have been the old stand-and-gawk zoos of my youth. This is a wonderful development for all zoo guests.
One of the great outcomes of this new style zoo has been the construction of far vaster ranges for the animals to live within. This improvement in the living conditions of the animals, though, has posed challenges regarding the means to allow zoo visitors to experience the animals in this new habitat, without undermining its initial virtues. Leaders in the zoo community addressed these challenges with various kinds of carry-through technology and process reorganization. These have included monorails, safari tours and walk through zones.
To identify the best zoos in America , or anywhere in the world, then, it all comes together into a cohesive whole. The conservationist agenda, the new expansive facility designs, the applications of leading technology, in the hands of the most deft zoo keepers and their support staff, have blossomed into a zoological renaissance.
Such a renaissance has had profound impacts upon the modern zoo visitor. In place of the old museum zoos we now enjoy experiences as rich in learning opportunities as in sheer exotic awe. Our new zoos inspire an experience which verges on the otherworldly. We now enjoy the remarkable opportunity for a kind of communion with other kinds of life. These other lives, certainly, are different from our own. And yet, at the same time, no doubt due to the consequence of a common evolutionary past, in some uncanny sense there remains something that strangely resonates with us.
Herein lay the real magic of the best zoos in America. They pull off this remarkable feat of somehow combining the power and lessons of contemporary science and technology while in the process allowing us to experience something of the sublime.
About the Author:
Mitchell Jone's top five list of the best zoos in America is required reading when you're planning a family excursion around a zoo adventure. Also, you'll enjoy our YouTube video .
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