Role of Zoological Faculties in Connecting Pepole to the Natural World (Spencer Mottley)

     A few days ago I was thinking to myself about the gest speaker talk we had with Dr Akansion on 

Atlantic White Cedar restoration. Speacificly I was thinking about the part of his speak where he said

science is failing to connect pepole to the natural world. Due to the fact it's so objective it oftentimes fails

to tell the stories that captivate pepole into careing for a cause (which in this case is enviromental

conservation). While I intially agreed with this thought and still do for the most part. I have come to think

of one expection in which science has succeeded in connecting pepole to the natural world, telling stories 

and convenceing pepole to care about enviromental conservation. This execption is zoological faculties 

such as zoo's, aquarums and even botanical gardens. These are places where pepole can come to connect

and learn about species they might otherwise never encounter in real life and leave feeling more

passionate about protecting the environment and it's constituents. This is due to the fact visitors often have

those captivateing real life experiences at zoological facilities that inspire them to care more about

protecting wildlife, wild places and the environment in general. Some of the best ways zoological facilities 

inspire their guest is through animal meet and greets, keeper talks, shows and preformances, and behind

the scenes tours. Not to mention these programs also tell stories, as visiters learn about varouis species,

the threats they face in the wild, conservation efforts, their ecological importance and what goes into

takeing care of them in a zoological setting. One step many zoological facilities have taken in recent

decades to connect pepole further to the natural world and to enrich the lives of their animals. Is through 

constructing natural enclosures that closely resemble the habatats these animals are found in the wild. One 

excellent example of a natural zoological enclosure, if you can even call it that are "the wilds" at the 

Columbus Zoo where savanna and grassland species such as giraffes, rhinos and water buffalo have

hundreds if not thousands of acres to roam in a grassland enviroment that very closely resimbles their

native habatats. After discussing this topic I am left with an important question, how do you replicate

some of the methods zoological facilities use to captivate and inspire the public in other areas of science

like chemistry, physics and cellular biology? My response to this question is, I think scientist from these

respective fields should come to schools and conduct age approperte science experiments with the kids

and while conducting said experment tell the students why the experment they are conducting is important

and it's implications in the real world. Another great idea would be to take students on feild trips to

science labs and have scientist explain to the kids what they do for a living and why it is an important 

feild. 

 

                                                           (The Wilds at the Columbus Zoo)
                                                          

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