Zoos, parks and Backyards

1) Logistical content concerning the presentation

1.1) Zoos, Parks and Backyards: March 22nd, 2017

1.2) Dr. Daniel E Bender (UTSC)

1.3) Summary

We knows a lot of animals that are disappearing in the world compared to the past. Vitamin N is spending time in nature, but what is nature? We must first define nature at different points in time. How to conserve nature? How we sense the modern zoo? In the 21st century zoo, it has to do with imitating the wild and we like to see what is natural. Animals in zoos didn’t live very long in the past. It was basically how humans look at the animals in the past and they should just look like animals. They want to feed and touch and sense the animals, and they complained that animals smell. You didn’t go to zoos to see animals as natural animals, you go to museum to see bison for that. Creating and normalizing family in museums, instead of seeing herds like in wildlife. Visitor’s often had opinions on the subject of zoos.

Weighing recreation and conservation in zoos is important. Zoos are in competition with parks in getting the experience to enjoy at the zoo. Circuses can give the other side of recreation versus zoos. Nature films can experience nature better than zoo. Violent nature is popular in films in 1930s. Zoos in the 1930s are getting relief dollars from governments and they focus their attention on Monkey Islands in zoos. They are all about recreation. Some of more popular entertainments of the 20th century is chimpanzee shows and they make them do human like things. The story of racism and racial entertainment is apparent at this time. It is a vision of nature on display. By 1946, zoos were targeting children and also feeding cute animals. Animals don’t breed well in nuclear families. Many zoos just sent their animals home such as zoo adoption programs. Comparing African American poor people and zoo animals are neurotic. Show animals as we want them to be, such as a Rhino’s nature for us.

Land was enclosed in which history is embedded and nothing comes close to having natural environment, but what is natural anymore? We manipulated animals so much that the new norm is natural.