(SW) Week 3 Q's

1: Hornaday pursued successfully issues of wildlife conservation. He formed a foundation that held zoos to a higher standard of animal treatment. Also this is groundbreaking for the time period. Bronx Zoo was opened in 1899. Indeed a man ahead of his time. Blair, a close peer of Hornaday opened up a dialogue about enclosure spaces for animals instead of barred spaces. He also encouraged for zoos to be the educators to the public. Osborn succeeded in opening a several acre enclose in 1948 Wyoming. In terms of design he also proposed natural conditions to surround the animals for enrichment. The major pro of the African Plains exhibit was that it got people thinking about the environment of the exhibit to be simulated to realistic measures for the animals comfort and not for human entertainment. 2a: The Woodland Park Zoo of Seattle was revolutionary in their innovations of organizing and designing exhibits. Woodland Park used Leslie Holdridge's ecologist system for classifying exhibits through habitat climate, and vegetation patterns rather than species. Although some of the issues were that animals that did not normally occupy the same geographical space were next to each other based on the same temperature and vegetation occurrences. The display in this technique allowed the animal not to feel present to viewers.Although when viewers did encounter the animals it gave this sense of awe that viewers could see this animal in its true environment. This is important because it was the first public declaration from a zoo that the animals were the main concern. 2b: The radical departure is that a deceased jaguar was intended to be replaced for the exhibit despite its lesser ecological importance. The idea of the jaguar became a fetishized object for zoo's viewers. The intention of the exhibit was to give viewers the impression they had stumbled upon a jaguar enclosure on the southern edge of the exhibition. 3: Wilson's evolutionary argument for habitat features and lanscapes that humans prefer is interesting. On one hand I understand the public's interest in a zoo is to see the animals, but yet the comfort of the wild animal is, or should be, a universal concern. What I think Wilson questions is the main purpose and function of a zoo. Menageries were entertainment and exploitation of animals and flaunting of wealth and status. Zoos have transformed from entertainment to conservation and education efforts.