Why are zoos so fun?

Discovering New Sights and Sounds Children of all ages love to experience new things, and every exhibit at the zoo offers opportunities for novel sensory experiences. The limitless variety of animal behaviors can even surprise and delight children who have been to the zoo many times.



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Outside of all the new questions, they'll see new things, smell new things, and maybe even touch new things! Zoos often have petting zoos and aquariums often have touch tanks to provide high sensory immersive experiences for little ones.

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Once you are comfortable with your baby out in public, there really is no age too early to start taking your baby to the zoo. Babies will likely become more alert, engaged, and interested in the animals closer to the twelve-month mark.

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Do zoos help or harm animals? While some suggest that zoos exploit captive animals and that wild animals should be wild, these facilities also present wildlife conservation attempts and learning opportunities as well. Zoos may introduce trauma to animals, but they are also taken care of in zoos.

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What we do know so far is that evidence suggests wild animals can be as happy in captivity as they are in nature, assuming they are treated well. Confinement alone doesn't mean an animal is automatically worse off.

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Captivity suppresses the natural instincts of wild animals. Animals suffer permanent frustration because they have no freedom of choice and cannot behave as they would do in their natural environment. This leads to a tendency toward genetic, physical and behavioural degeneration.

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Zoos act as a safe haven for these animals who would be driven extinct otherwise by poaching, deforestation, or other loss of habitable ground, and environmental destruction caused by pollution. In zoos they are safe from all of these factors, and their rights are preserved and protected.

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With the ongoing threat to wildlife environments and the many benefits that come with zoos, it's safe to say that they're essential to the long-term survival of many species. Not only can zoos help protect, breed, and reintroduce animals, but we can learn about them to help create a better world for them.

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Some Interesting Zoo Facts
  • It has been estimated by WAZA that over 600 million people visit zoos each year. ...
  • It is estimated (by us) that there are more than 2,800 zoos & aquariums in the world.
  • Germany (1.2. ...
  • The USA has at least 355 zoos.


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On average, captive animals (especially mammals) live longer than wild animals. This may be due to the fact that zoos provide refuge against diseases, competition with others of the same species and predators.

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Anything remaining will be cremated, including even the tiniest of animals. “Everything from guppies to elephants is incinerated,” says Neiffer. While burials were once commonplace at zoos, very few bury their animals anymore.

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In the wild, this is not something animals typically deal with. Animals brought from the wild into captivity, on the other hand, may suffer from chronic stress even if their basic physical needs are met. In part, this may be because wild animals perceive captive environments as threatening in and of themselves.

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Do any of the animal species in a zoo realize that they are being held captive by humans? The smarter ones, such as great apes and elephants, almost certainly do. The rest probably have no particular grasp of that idea. They do realize they're confined to a specific area and can't find a way out.

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While zoo advocates and conservationists argue that zoos save endangered species and educate the public, many animal rights activists believe the cost of confining animals outweighs the benefits, and that the violation of the rights of individual animals—even in efforts to fend off extinction—cannot be justified.

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Although 700 million people worldwide visit zoos and aquariums each year, many zoos have found their attendance numbers going down in recent years.

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Reintroduction programs, by which animals raised or rehabilitated in AZA-accredited zoos or aquariums are released into their natural habitats, are powerful tools used for stabilizing, reestablishing, or increasing in-situ animal populations that have suffered significant declines.

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Zoos do a lot for conservation. There are dedicated species survival programs which have helped species come out from the brink of extinction, good examples of that being the black-footed ferrets, the red wolves, the Przewalski's wild horse, and the California condors.

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Zoos breed their animals or acquire them from other zoos. Babies are great crowd-pleasers, but when the babies grow up, they don't attract the same number of people, so zoos often sell them off in order to make room for younger animals.

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How to Tell If the Zoo You're Looking to Visit Is Ethical
  • Does It Have Any Form of Accreditation? ...
  • How Are the Animals Acquired? ...
  • Does It Allow Interactions With Animals, and Is It Animal- or People-Focused? ...
  • Can You Find Photos of the Enclosures? ...
  • Where Does Its Money Go?
  • What Is Your Gut Reaction?


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