Zoos

In this episode, Jad and Robert talk about Zoos and how the animals within them are affected. They first start out with talking about the cages the animals are put in. In most zoos, animals are caged in the standard cement and black/grey bared cages with so and so amount of space to lie down or pace. Scientists were able to do a study upon zoo animals to see just how they would react in a different environment, for example, creating a place for the animals that simulates more like their natural environment. What they had done was separated three different groups of gorillas. One group was living in a high class area where their environment was very similar to their natural habitat, also with the simulative help of toys provided. Then second group basically had less of what the first group had. They had less trees, less toys, less objects to stimulate the mind, and lastly, the third group. The third group was basically put into wire cages. When the scientists did their research, the neurons in the first and second group were drastically different, like 20% to 40%. However, the second and third group there wasn’t much of a difference. Although there wasn’t much of a difference, they could tell that the third group was much happier in their environment that was closest to their habitat. Now, while trying to simulate a more likely habitat, Jad and Robert looked into seeing how the animals were fed.

Ninety percent of zoos feed their animal’s frozen food and cut meats. Carnivores would have their cutlet steaks, slabs of meat, things that didn’t really look like traditional food a lion or what have you would recognize as food. However, there is a zoo that will every so often out of the year feed their animals a whole animal, dead already. This to me is something I believe should be done in every zoo. The animals out in the wild were able to rip and eat into the carcass of another, digest the things they could and gnaw on the bones; it is all completely natural…unlike the slop that is normally given to them. Speaking of going completely natural, Jad and Robert end it by telling a story of a boy who would visit these wild animals in the zoo and how he set a goal to change things for them.

This boy would eventually dedicate himself when he was older to help rescue and reserve land for Jaguars in the wild. His original intent was brought up by a college professor who asked if he would like to help collar and count Jaguars in this specific location. He agreed and set himself off for this destination. When he first arrived he had to figure out how to capture these Jaguars, thus he tried making cages out of 2 x 4s. He was quickly shown just how powerful these large cats were when one was able to gnaw and break its way out of the wooden cage. Another cage was constructed out of rebar, sadly, the feline that was captured in this stylized cage tried to break out and ended up breaking its canines. When he tried saving the large cat, it ended up dieing in his arms. Eventually, he was able to learn from his mistakes and count enough Jaguars to present the pressing matter to the Prime Minister, which in return, after an hour and a half speech, was granted to have the world’s first Jaguar preserve.