A callow youth could be imagined who considered a museum excursion quite as good as, possibly superior to, visiting the zoo. It is, after all, common practice nowadays for museums to have large animal exhibits packed into conveniently browse-able indoor displays - thoroughly sheltered from the variable weather of the seasons.
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.
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.
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.
As zoo animals have the experience of living in environments more closely fit with their evolved dispositions, their natural liveliness is invigorated. This leads to animals with energy and curiosity. Such animals are active and involved with their environment and each other.
The benefits to both their psychological and physical healthy are considerable. Likewise, though, these superior living conditions for the animals allow the zoo visitor exciting experiences. The increased energy and vitality of the animals in this more stimulating setting, so much better suited to their evolutionary characteristics, allows zoo visitors to observe animals that not only are healthier, and more engaging, but also living a life more representative of their nature.
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.
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.
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.
This is the extraordinary magic of the best zoos: they marry the insights of science and technology to create a sense 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.
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.
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.
As zoo animals have the experience of living in environments more closely fit with their evolved dispositions, their natural liveliness is invigorated. This leads to animals with energy and curiosity. Such animals are active and involved with their environment and each other.
The benefits to both their psychological and physical healthy are considerable. Likewise, though, these superior living conditions for the animals allow the zoo visitor exciting experiences. The increased energy and vitality of the animals in this more stimulating setting, so much better suited to their evolutionary characteristics, allows zoo visitors to observe animals that not only are healthier, and more engaging, but also living a life more representative of their nature.
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.
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.
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.
This is the extraordinary magic of the best zoos: they marry the insights of science and technology to create a sense of the sublime.
About the Author:
Mitchell Jone's top five list of the best zoos in America is required reading if you're planning a family trip around a zoo adventure. And, please enjoy our YouTube video .
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