A Different Nature The Paradoxical World of Zoos and their Uncertain Future

About this book

Reviews the history of zoos in the light of their failures and successes, and points the way toward a more humane approach, one that will benefit both the animals and the humans who visit them. He singles out and discusses the better zoos, exploring such places as the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Bronx Zoo with its dedication to worldwide conservation programs, Emmen Zoo in Holland with its astonishingly diverse education programs, Wildscreen in England, and Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, where the concept of "landscape immersion" (exhibits that surround people and animals in carefully replicated natural habitats) was pioneered.

Contents

1. Collections as Status 2. The Eighteenth-Century Concept 3. The Nineteenth-Century Phenomenon 4. Romanticists and Modernists 5. Toward New Frontiers 6. Immersed in the Landscape 7. Agents of Conservation 8. Which Way the Future?

Customer Reviews

Biography

David Hancocks lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is Director of the Open Range Zoo, at Werribee, and Director of Planning for the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board, Victoria, Australia. He is author of Animals and Architecture (1971) and Master Builders of the Animal World (1973).