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.
It true, of course, that the museum animals do lack a rather distinctive quality: which is to say that they're dead -- and stuffed! The truth is though, recalling from my childhood, many of the zoos I visited had animals which were so inanimate, they might well have been stuffed.
Thankfully, those days are by-in-large behind us. No longer is one going to confuse the museum experience with an excursion to the zoo. It's not entirely unfair to say that the quality of a top zoo may well be defined precisely in the degree to which it provides an experience distinctive from that of the zoos of days gone by (and museums).
No longer are such zoos storage units with bars. Rather, they have become full participants in a great project to assure the cultivation and preservation of our planet's wildlife. The very best of them are notable for their extensive facilities and clearly expressed missions to pursue the research and collaborative endeavors that enhance wildlife preservation within appropriate, natural habitats.
They thereby create a symbiosis, so that learning more about how best to ensure the well being of animals in the wild also allows them to design habitat experiences in their zoos that better suit their own animals. The modern zoo is thus a far more stimulating and rewarding experience for all 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.
And of course since the behavior of the animals is now better suited to their natural habitat, the zoo becomes an educational experience in a manner far more complex and deep than the stand-and-gawk zoos of my youth.
This concern for a more natural habitat generally results in greater ranges for the animals. The challenge then can become one of managing to get zoo visitors to the animals without disrupting the benefits of the improved habitats. Innovative zoo keepers have solved this problem with the application of new organizing principles and technology. Notable among these have been development of solutions such as monorails, safari tours and walk through zones.
Identifying the best zoos in America , or anywhere, now largely hinges on the success of melding these dimensions: a conservationist agenda, new expansive facility designs, and the innovative applications of technology. The most creative zoo keepers have integrated these features into a blossoming that may be rightly called a zoological renaissance.
This renaissance allows zoo visitors to have experiences as rich in their learning opportunities as in their sheer exotic wonder. In the process, they inspire in us a sense of awe for the wonders of nature while providing us that rare opportunity for communion with another life: one so different from our own yet also, as an inevitable consequence of our common evolutionary heritage, in some uncanny way also strangely like 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.
It true, of course, that the museum animals do lack a rather distinctive quality: which is to say that they're dead -- and stuffed! The truth is though, recalling from my childhood, many of the zoos I visited had animals which were so inanimate, they might well have been stuffed.
Thankfully, those days are by-in-large behind us. No longer is one going to confuse the museum experience with an excursion to the zoo. It's not entirely unfair to say that the quality of a top zoo may well be defined precisely in the degree to which it provides an experience distinctive from that of the zoos of days gone by (and museums).
No longer are such zoos storage units with bars. Rather, they have become full participants in a great project to assure the cultivation and preservation of our planet's wildlife. The very best of them are notable for their extensive facilities and clearly expressed missions to pursue the research and collaborative endeavors that enhance wildlife preservation within appropriate, natural habitats.
They thereby create a symbiosis, so that learning more about how best to ensure the well being of animals in the wild also allows them to design habitat experiences in their zoos that better suit their own animals. The modern zoo is thus a far more stimulating and rewarding experience for all 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.
And of course since the behavior of the animals is now better suited to their natural habitat, the zoo becomes an educational experience in a manner far more complex and deep than the stand-and-gawk zoos of my youth.
This concern for a more natural habitat generally results in greater ranges for the animals. The challenge then can become one of managing to get zoo visitors to the animals without disrupting the benefits of the improved habitats. Innovative zoo keepers have solved this problem with the application of new organizing principles and technology. Notable among these have been development of solutions such as monorails, safari tours and walk through zones.
Identifying the best zoos in America , or anywhere, now largely hinges on the success of melding these dimensions: a conservationist agenda, new expansive facility designs, and the innovative applications of technology. The most creative zoo keepers have integrated these features into a blossoming that may be rightly called a zoological renaissance.
This renaissance allows zoo visitors to have experiences as rich in their learning opportunities as in their sheer exotic wonder. In the process, they inspire in us a sense of awe for the wonders of nature while providing us that rare opportunity for communion with another life: one so different from our own yet also, as an inevitable consequence of our common evolutionary heritage, in some uncanny way also strangely like 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 a must read if you're organizing a family trip around a zoo adventure. And, you'll enjoy our YouTube video .
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