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.
Of course, the animals don't ever move - because they're dead and stuffed. But, frankly, as a kid, I recall lots of zoos in which the animals moved so little they might well have been stuffed.
The days when zoos were largely animal museums are happily mostly a thing of the past, now. Indeed, in a certain sense, the more opposite to this that a zoo is capable of making itself, the more it may raise itself up into the league of the best zoos in America - or, indeed, the best in the world.
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.
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 results of this are animals that are far healthier both psychologically and physically. Additionally, this more natural environment is a richer and more profound experience for zoo visitors. The animals' rejuvenated energy and vitality - stimulated by living in conditions so much better fit to their evolutionary needs - results in the opportunity to observe animals that are animated and present.
And of course since the action of the animals is now well suited to their natural environment, the zoo is an educational experience in a far more complex and deep way 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.
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 has provided the opportunity for zoo visitors to experience foreign and exotic animals in a context both rich in learning opportunities and powerful in exotic wonder. The modern zoo can inspire in us a profound awe in nature's wonders, while offering the extraordinary opportunity to commune with other forms of life: forms of life that, though different from us, as the inevitable consequence of a shared evolutionary legacy, also in an uncanny way captures some common thread.
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.
Of course, the animals don't ever move - because they're dead and stuffed. But, frankly, as a kid, I recall lots of zoos in which the animals moved so little they might well have been stuffed.
The days when zoos were largely animal museums are happily mostly a thing of the past, now. Indeed, in a certain sense, the more opposite to this that a zoo is capable of making itself, the more it may raise itself up into the league of the best zoos in America - or, indeed, the best in the world.
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.
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 results of this are animals that are far healthier both psychologically and physically. Additionally, this more natural environment is a richer and more profound experience for zoo visitors. The animals' rejuvenated energy and vitality - stimulated by living in conditions so much better fit to their evolutionary needs - results in the opportunity to observe animals that are animated and present.
And of course since the action of the animals is now well suited to their natural environment, the zoo is an educational experience in a far more complex and deep way 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.
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 has provided the opportunity for zoo visitors to experience foreign and exotic animals in a context both rich in learning opportunities and powerful in exotic wonder. The modern zoo can inspire in us a profound awe in nature's wonders, while offering the extraordinary opportunity to commune with other forms of life: forms of life that, though different from us, as the inevitable consequence of a shared evolutionary legacy, also in an uncanny way captures some common thread.
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 holiday. And, you'll enjoy our YouTube video .