| time of year, your favorite zoo is about the busiest | | | | acknowledgment of its educational purpose is a |
| place in town. With the gas crises in full swing, many | | | | relatively recent addition to the zoo function, dating |
| families are choosing to stay near home and take the | | | | from the change from menagerie to zoological garden. |
| family to the local menagerie. | | | | Obviously, the zoo teaches natural history and zoology. |
| Which begs the question - why does every modern | | | | It also teaches the interdependence of life, and it |
| city that can afford a zoo have one today? | | | | should teach appreciation for the dignity of all |
| There are probably half-a-dozen good reasons: | | | | creatures. |
| recreation, education, nature appreciation, research, | | | | Zoos educate at many levels. There is the simplest |
| conservation, and another purpose best described as | | | | form of education, that of the casual stroller who |
| sociological. | | | | learns that a wolf really isn't as big as a bear, and that |
| The recreational aspects of a zoo are evident in the | | | | a tiger isn’t a constantly raging beast. |
| millions who stream through their gates every year. | | | | The more interested stroller, reading the informational |
| The San Diego Zoo, where I spent some years as PR | | | | signs, learns what a marsupial is, and that porcupines |
| director, consistently draws over three million people a | | | | cannot shoot quills. |
| year to its tropics-like park setting. | | | | At a still higher level are the conducted zoo tours in |
| Since most zoos are generally located in a park, a visit | | | | which informed guides lead groups on walks. |
| to them offers a walk in a natural setting and mild | | | | One of the great advantages of the zoo as an |
| exercise, both spiced with close-up views of the living | | | | educational institution is that almost no one minds |
| wonders of nature. | | | | learning this way. Even the most fractious child will |
| In a broad sense, the zoo is a source of entertainment. | | | | absorb information on a zoo trip. San Diego and a |
| (And to stay competitive in today's tourist market, the | | | | majority of the larger zoos have formal arrangements |
| larger zoos have to offer up additional events, acts, | | | | with local school systems for teaching visits. |
| prizes and special days.) | | | | The research function of the modern zoo is more and |
| Directors, curators and vets on the staff would prefer | | | | more being appreciated and used. Today's scientists |
| to emphasize the more serious purposes of education, | | | | have turned to wild animal collections with basic |
| research and conservation. But for the endless | | | | questions: |
| streams of people who come to the zoo, | | | | What kind of a blood system does the giraffe have |
| entertainment is the primary motive – | | | | that allows it to drop its head 18 feet to drink without |
| recreational and educational. | | | | having a heart attack? |
| Still animals as entertainment cannot be the zoo's sole | | | | What kind of a digestive system does a vulture have |
| purpose. For that, there are circuses. | | | | that allows it to eat putrefying fish without getting food |
| Nature appreciation is closely akin to the recreational | | | | poisoning? |
| function of the zoo but goes well beyond. Properly | | | | How does a bird navigate over water on a |
| designed exhibits — and more and more zoos | | | | cloud-shrouded night? |
| have modernized their exhibition areas — must | | | | What psychological barriers exist in most species that |
| lead to a sense of wonder at the infinite variety of life | | | | make it almost impossible for one animal to deliberately |
| and appreciation of its mystery. | | | | kill another animal of the same species? |
| Close watching should temper the idea of the "slimy, | | | | In early times, kings kept wild animals to show that their |
| slithering" snake to wonder at its geometric beauty and | | | | dominion extended even over the kings of the jungle. |
| obvious cleanliness. The sight of the leading male | | | | Romans imported ferocious beasts to take part in |
| baboon slapping at the adolescents, but enduring every | | | | bloody contests in the arena. Later, noblemen and rich |
| indignity from the young, is a lesson in parenthood. | | | | merchants kept them as status symbols. |
| The ancient Chinese name for zoos, "parks of | | | | Today, with a thousand species of animals now |
| intelligence," indicates how far back the idea of the | | | | considered endangered, conservation of our wildlife |
| zoo's educational purpose goes. However, real | | | | may be the zoo’s most important function. |