WEBVTT - Zoos! Feed Drop: Secretly Incredibly Fascinating 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:07.280 Zus No four animals, famous for getting to visit the 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.040 animals at the zoo. Nobody thinks much about them, So 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:14.400 let's have some fun. Let's find out why sus are 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:36.600 secretly incredibly fascinating. Hey, they're folks, Welcome to a whole 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.840 new podcast episode of podcasts all about why being alive 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.360 is more interesting than people think it is. My name 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.120 is Alex Schmidt, and folks, not only am I not alone, 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.440 I'm joined by my co host, Katie Golden. 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.760 Katie, Alex, Hey, good to. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:51.440 See you boy. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:52.680 Yeah, it's good to see it too. 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:54.760 I'm glad you're back from your break. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:55.480 Me too. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.920 And I am also so glad people picked such a 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.200 wonderful topic friend episode. Thank you to Koop Bear with 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.640 support from lots of folks. Katie, what's your relationship to 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.360 or opinion of zoos. You don't think about animals, You 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:10.679 probably haven't heard of them or anything. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.160 I grew up in San Diego, so I went to 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.479 one of the world's most famous zoos quite a bit 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.440 when I was growing up as an adult, the San 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:24.520 Diego Zoo. Yeah, and I also because I host a 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.680 animal podcast, a creature feature, I get asked a lot 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.240 what my opinion is on zoos. It really comes down 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.200 to the zoos because some zoos are basically animal prisons. 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.240 They're not very good. They don't have adequate space for animals, 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.880 and so a lot of like roadside zoos are terrible. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.040 You just can't like put a wild animal in a 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.920 small cage and call it a day, and I don't 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.720 see any value to that. Zoos like the San Diego 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:58.000 Zoo and other zoos, there are plenty all across the 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.720 US and the world that do have adequate housing and 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.360 care for their animals. I think are actually really important. 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.280 They both do a lot of things like practically in 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.360 terms of conservation and also in terms of education for 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:17.840 the public. So I'm very much pro good zoo. I 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.040 think there are a few animals that just can never 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.600 realistically be kept in a zoo. One of them is elephants. 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:29.480 They're just too big and they're too smart, and their 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:35.720 whole life is nomadic. It's not ideal to have elephants 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.720 at a zoo. I know some zoos have elephants because 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.280 they're rescued, and I understand that, and I think that's fine, 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.040 But I don't think elephants should ever be bred in 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.400 a zoo. You don't find them much in zoos, But 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:54.520 another one is Orca's. It's the same situations situation as Wales. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.560 They're too big, they're too intelligent in their lives revolved 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.880 too much around nomadic lifestyle that a zoo cannot provide. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.480 They're highly social. Yeah, I don't know if any zoo 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.280 that has orc is. I know that like Sea World 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:16.320 of course infamously had them. So anyways, I would be against, say, 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.200 breeding them and trying purposefully to keep them bred in 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.200 a zoo. There are some animals that it's good they 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.480 breed in zoo's, like pandas, because they really need the help. 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.360 Oh those goofy little giant fuzzballs a. 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.480 Bunch of voluntary seliments. 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.480 I feel like this topic is really aimed for both 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.160 of us, because, Yeah, you make your wonderful podcast creature 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.640 feature you grew up near what it turns out is 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.120 the most visited and as I understand it, by acclaim 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.240 top zuo in the US San Diego Zoo, and then 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.520 I've talked about being a zoo tour guide at Brookfield 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.560 Zoo and near it's Brookfield, Illinois, it's near Chicago. I'm 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.360 pretty in the tank for zoos. I'm pretty biased towards zoos. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.720 And I also I was saying this some by in 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.360 discord too, like when people say it's sort of like 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.040 an animal jail, they're right, it's just I think it's 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.640 worth it. So yeah, it's my like they are stuck 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.440 and it's hard to rewild most of them. And then 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.280 also I think it's worthwhile overall, but it's like. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:23.479 A Nordic animal jail for good zoos. I'm not a 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.359 US carceral system. 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.159 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like my grammishment would get us 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.760 a Brookfield Zoo membership every Christmas for the family, and 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:33.400 then my mom would take me and my brother there 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.640 so we run around and wear ourselves out. Then I 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.159 dreamed of being a tour guide. Then it was a 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.719 tour guide. Me and my wife have gone to a 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.320 zoo most every Thanksgiving our whole relationship. Like zoos, I 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.599 have like too many zoo associations, and we'll just get 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:48.760 into it, I think as we go. I love them. 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:51.479 I've never been to the Brookfield Zoo, but I have 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.719 seen sort of like the general layout all of this stuff. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:55.440 It looks like a. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.760 Good zoo to me. It seems like they have all 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.680 the stuff, like really just there are some zoos that 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.520 are just like, here's a cage with a tiger in it, 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.240 and it's like, yeah, that's that's no, that's no good. 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.919 But when a zoo really tries and cares about the 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.640 animals and cares about their welfare, maybe it's not always ideal, 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:17.480 but I don't I don't think it's cruel. 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.280 Thank you again, folks for picking this. I'm sorry scited 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.640 to talk about it. On every episode we lead with 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.560 a quick set of fascinating numbers and statistics in a 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:35.080 segment called Alexeyora stats Man, alexeyorastats Man, Katie yourra stats man, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:39.560 Do dude, do you keep all your numbers in a 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:44.320 big brown stats inside a zoo? What a stats to do? 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.400 I like how the take on the lyrics to that 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.839 song make just about as much sense as the original. 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:57.880 Like the original never made any sense to me. This one, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.760 in a way is even more clear, uh than the 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:02.880 original Beatles song. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.320 Almost everything on Magical Mystery tours that way. It's great. Yeah, 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.039 this is baby, You're a rich man. And thank you 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.480 Paul Zorin for that suggestion related to the topic. Thank you, Paul. 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:15.120 We have a new name for this every week. Please 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.320 make a mis Silli and waggon bass possible, submit your 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.720 discord or to sift Pot at gmail dot com. And 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.400 the first number of this week is more than eight thousand, 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:24.919 six hundred species. 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:27.160 Oh, that is. 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.880 The number of different animal species in zoos and Aquariums 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.479 accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which is 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:35.960 mostly a US organization. 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:40.039 And it's wild because that's a lot wild. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.039 Yes, it comes back from her summer break thinks I 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:48.680 won't pick out the word wild. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.279 Yeah, well I thought naively I could just get away 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.480 with that. But yeah, that's like a tiny fraction of 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.840 the world's species. I would have a lot of. That 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.320 is because a lot of zoos do have huge insect exhibits, 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.760 which are actually one of my favorite parts of zoos, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.240 the bug house. They're so good, and insects alone are 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.840 there's so many species of animals. That's like a tiny fraction, 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.640 and that's still a ton of species. That's really impressive. 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.760 It is truly, because this is basically just the US 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:28.120 almost the AZA. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums is 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:32.120 an umbrella organization. It was founded in nineteen twenty four, 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.560 and it's not part of the government, it's not required 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.920 by any laws. It's just helping two hundred and fifty 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.440 one zoos and aquariums in thirteen countries run well on 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.560 like a set of voluntary good standards that includes zoos 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.200 in forty six US states and the District of Columbia. 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:53.000 And then there's other versions of this organization in other countries. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.000 So if you're in what feels like a professional zoo, 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.960 it's probably because of one of these umbrella organizations that 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.880 nobody thinks about doing a bunch of good work. 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.800 If there hasn't been like a cage with clearly what 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.920 is a man who's naked painted to look like a 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:14.440 tiger going rah, it's probably one of these accredited zoos. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.080 And if there is that, it's my one man show, 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:22.200 Tiger Elix. It's off off off Broadway and go very 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:23.600 far away. They wouldn't let me. 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.560 I feel like I've probably described someone's fetish and I'm sorry. 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.840 Oh no, I didn't mean it. I really took it 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:36.839 there because I made it me. Uh yeah. And then 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:41.280 the ACA also runs a lot of SSPs. SSPs are 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:45.800 species survival plans. So that's a system of exchanging and 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:49.000 breeding the members of more than five hundred endangered species 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.960 in zoos, again just in their group. Then there's as 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:59.200 MP's the Australasian Species Management Program, there's EEPs the European 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.800 as a C two programs, there's a bunch of different 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.559 umbrella groups. And then also basically logs of family trees 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.199 and which animals are where to try to breed endangered 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.720 species as well as possible. And again many many thousands 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:18.040 of species are successfully kept in zoos, and also zoos 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.240 are skipping a lot of animals that are doing fine 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.880 without captivity and are high end numbers in the wild. 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:25.439 So it's an impressive amount. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.640 Yeah, no, it's I mean, this is kind of one 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.080 of the great thing about zoos is that you do 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:37.199 have a repertoire of the animal genome that is being 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.200 cared for and protected. It's kind of like a seed bank, 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.360 right for plants and stuff. But you can't just keep 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.679 animals in suspended animations, so you got to take care 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.720 of them, and it's a nice thing that the public 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:51.920 then also gets to see them. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:57.320 A next quick number is seven hundred million people. Seven 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.360 hundred million people is approximate global old attendance at zoos 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.800 and also aquariums. Aquariums are basically just considered a specialized zoo, 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.480 so zoo's aquariums, aviaries, everything else. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.720 How they get that water to stay behind those bars though. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:20.080 Alex, that's how they prevent the lion from drowning. It 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:21.760 goes out of the bars and then. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:28.160 They keep throwing the fish back in. I love aquariums 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.200 as well. Actually, my favorite aquarium is a smaller one 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:38.200 in San Diego associated with UCSD, called the Birch Aquarium. 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:43.319 It's does not have any large whales or dolphins or 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.640 anything like that, just a bunch of really cool fish 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:51.480 and a great view of the ocean and like an 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.960 artificial tide pool outside that you can like go and 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.000 interact with respectfully. They don't want you to grabbing and 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.920 shaking the sea here, but it just it's always been 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.080 my favorite aquarium. It's not that big, it's just really 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:10.800 well maintained. Since my dad worked at scripts Instituto of Oceanography, 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:12.959 I got to go like all the time. It was amazing. 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.319 I'll bet we both grew up with just such good 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.720 aquariums that see, world was never like a consideration, because 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.319 Chicago has an excellent one called the Shad Aquarium right 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:22.760 on the lake. 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:28.080 What was your favorite part of the aquarium anytime? 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:35.920 I wasn't feeling afraid various phobias, but also sincerely they 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:41.640 had beluga whales. Wow, and they're like neat. And both 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.480 Brookfield and the Shad had dolphins and those are cool. 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:46.560 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was. 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:48.480 I was kind of whiteknuckling the aquarium every time. 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.400 Yeah, man, that was You want to know my favorite 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:55.040 part of the aquarium, Alex, You're not gonna like this. Yeah, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.520 the jellyfish area. 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.839 There was this uh it makes sense. Yeah, like if 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:01.280 you like, there are really cool. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:05.040 Yeah, You're in the dark and there's these giant tanks 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.560 full of these ethereal otherworldly beings. They had a bunch 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.560 of different Nigerians there, so they had like sea gooseberries 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.080 that had this sort of like luminescence over their sides 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:21.120 and stuff, and just like beautiful, beautiful surrounded by a 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:24.960 jellyfish in the dark, which I assume is your worst nightmare, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:26.800 but for me, it was very soothing. 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.000 Yeah. That's like the cut scene for when my character 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:35.559 loses in Mortal Kombat or something. Right, like they're fatalitied 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:42.240 by jellyfish ships it to jellyfish. Hell, this topic is 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.880 so common in people's lives, Like it's not that everyone 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.760 gets to go. But another number here is one hundred 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.520 and eighty one million zoo visitors just in the US 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.440 per year. And that's not unique visitors. But if it 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.480 was unique visitors, that'd be more than half the US population. 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:59.760 Probably more than a third of Americans go to a 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:04.280 zoo aquarium every year. And despite some of those, except 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.760 a few DC ones, being expensive, people still make it happen, 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.200 like we just love zoos. The most visited US zoo 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.080 is San Diego, the most visited European zoo is apparently Berlin. 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.280 The most visited Asian zoo is in Singapore. And also 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.880 the Guinness Book of World Records. They're never really a 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.720 solid source of information, but for their records they allow 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.960 a looser definition of zoos, so they say the world's 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.080 most popular zoo is the Animal Kingdom section of Walt 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.840 Disney World in Florida, which has like a zookeeping element 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.560 and there's animals there. I really I didn't know that 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.800 I've been once. There was like a pretty substantial collection 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:45.040 of animals that's like not a ride or whatever. Yeah, 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.880 and two next numbers to share kind of back to back. 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.880 The two next numbers are twenty two California condors and 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:59.800 only several hundred American bison. Those are the estimated low 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.439 points of each of those animal populations, and they are 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.160 at least two of the species that have objectively definitely 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.560 been saved partly through zoo efforts. 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.440 Yeah. Yeah, which is wild because like I'm gonna keep saying, 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.560 and you have to calm down about it, because like 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.560 it's it's not like as long as you have a 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.920 male animal and a female animal, that population can be saved. 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.680 Like it's freaking Noah's arc. Uh that it's usually too 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.680 late by that point because the gen that's enough genes, right, 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.680 it's too probably not enough. Like if if Noah's arc 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:41.400 was real, like the genetic bottleneck would be so crazy. Yeah, 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.720 what was God thinking? Come on, stupid? 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.000 Yeah, but it's almost like it's a metaphor a parable 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:50.480 or something. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.960 Yeah yeah right now, couldn't be uh, but yeah, the 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.880 the uh, you really do need a robust genetic population 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.440 for most animals. Some animals can get surprisingly by because 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.200 they have weird genetic shenanigans. 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:10.000 Cough like jellyfish cough, monsters, the monsters. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:15.560 Yeah, like asexual reproduction. But it's an incredible feat to 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.960 go from like, you know, a few dozen individuals to 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:23.040 actually bringing the population back successfully. Like that's it's hard 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.920 to understate how impressive that is. 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:31.320 Yeah, especially with condors. It's such an amazing story of 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.400 especially modern conservation. Apparently in the year nineteen eighty two, 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.360 so not long ago. In nineteen eighty two, biologists estimated 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.440 that there were only twenty two California condors left and 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.960 began bringing as many into zoos as possible and then 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.080 bred them, rewilded a bunch of them. There's now hundreds 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:50.920 of them in the wild. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.880 They managed to avoid the problems with like a human 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.520 raising a condor and having the condor and print on 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.560 humans by making these amazing condor hand puppets that were 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.680 very realistic that they used to feed these baby condors. 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.680 Whooping cranes is another example. It's very funny with them 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:14.280 because it's like people with the whooping crane hand puppet, 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.720 but then they walk around with sort of a sheet 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.520 over the rest of their bodies because they're like they're 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.200 like feeding and trying to teach the young whooping cranes stuff, 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:29.920 and so it's very it's very funny, but it's surprisingly effective, and. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.320 They did it. There's now hundreds of California condors in 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.320 the wild. They of course still need support, but without 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.600 the efforts of zoos specifically, that wouldn't have happened. And 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:43.320 then much earlier in history, around the eighteen nineties, the 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.280 estimate was only several hundred American bison, which was down 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:52.680 from a peak of at least thirty million. Individuals and zoos. 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.840 In particular, the Bronxio in New York, working with parks 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.040 like wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, came together 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.320 to bring back the and so now a lot of 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.879 zoological associations in the US the logo might have a 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.399 bisoner feature that and yeah, that's another zoo thing. They 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.600 also might do a lot of their conservation effort off 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.560 the property. My favorite number there because it's a Brookfield thing. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.920 The number is the year nineteen seventy. Back in nineteen seventy, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:24.400 Brookfield began a research programs studying Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in Florida, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.080 and according to the Chicago Tribune. It is the longest 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.959 ongoing study of a wild marine mammal population in the 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:36.240 history of science. They've since the seventies had an ongoing 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.359 entire facility and team studying dolphins in Florida, even though 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:44.080 if you're a zoo guest in Chicago, that doesn't entertain 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.320 you other than maybe some signs about it, like a 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.159 lot of zoos are doing not just behind the scenes, 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.080 but thousands of miles away conservation efforts. 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.240 I mean, that's it sounds very similar to museums as well. 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.920 Like natural history museums, you're really only seeing a frack 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.639 of their collection that's presented throughout the museum. There's so 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.120 many other specimens behind the scenes and so much research 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.879 that happens behind the scenes. It's equally interesting. But they 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.440 just they simply can't just put a researcher on display 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:18.480 going through an archive of thousands of birds. That just 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:20.440 doesn't really work. 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.919 Watch the researcher feeding at noon and then a caper 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:25.040 breaks him subway. 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:30.400 Yeah, yeah, Like here's your sandwich. Turkey's a little dry. 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.080 But like with the dolphin study, I'd be curious here because, 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.560 like a lot of the seventies studies on dolphins were 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:43.040 pretty wild, Like do dolphins like jazz? Can we teach 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.000 a dolphins to talk? What happens if we stick a 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.440 very attractive woman in a hotel room with a dolphin. 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:54.199 None of those are huge exaggerations of real studies they 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:55.080 did with dolphins. 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.480 It'd be funny if the only longitude in the long 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.000 term information was about with dolphins like disco and uh, 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.520 what dolphins think of Jimmy Carter. You know, it's just 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:05.760 very seventies stuff. 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.240 It'd be really funny. Like we've found out that dolphins 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.800 are all staunch Republicans. 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.840 They never heard about Watergate never. Also, they like water, 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:22.760 so you know, right, Therefore it actually another wonderful animal 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.440 conservation thing in zoo's is, of course zoo babies. One 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:31.119 exciting number there is November twenty twenty four, this past 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.800 November when we're taping. That is when the Edinburgh Zoo 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:40.760 in Scotland trash talked the cow Kiow Open Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand. 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.639 Trash talked it because each of them had a baby 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:45.840 pygmy hippo. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.120 Oh wow, oh my goodness. 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.720 Yeah, And Edinburgh really came for the queen here because. 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:55.879 Edinburgh who comes from mood Dang. 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.919 Yeah, Edinburgh had a new baby pygmy hippo who they 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.960 named Hagis, and they did a social come on, we 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:08.120 did a social media post titled Moodang who Dang introducing Hagis. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:12.679 If you want your cute baby hippo to really catch on, 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.480 might I suggest basically any other name except Hagis. 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.280 I think I think they were doing the it's so 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:24.880 Scottish and gross, it's cute, but I don't. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.479 I'm not sold on naming a baby hippo Hagis, you know. 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.040 Yeah. And I also assume Haggas is less popular than 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.399 Mudang because I hadn't really heard of Hagas before looking 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:40.760 this up, So I think Mudang won. But also the 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.399 kaw kiow Zoo refused to fight. They just replied saying 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:49.040 that both hippos are adorable, and Edinburgh replied with what 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:53.080 they called a notesapp style apology of quote. We were 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.760 wrong to pitt Haggis and Moudang against each other. 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:02.560 I mean it's true, like, why why are we pitting 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:08.080 these hippos against each other? Is Hagas a boy? Uh? 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:10.359 Oh, it's a girl. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.920 It's a girl, you know, what this. It's twenty twenty five. 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:17.960 We could still have Julia and Julia with these two hippos. 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.639 Two houses alike Indignity. Scotland and Thailand even have land 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.280 in the name, you know, very. 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:25.960 Similar they do. 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:30.240 Yeah, this was a rare case of anybody creating any 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.159 conflict around zoo babies. Usually just the world is thrilled 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.119 with them, one after another. Because of all the things 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.120 about social media that are good, the best one might 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:43.520 be easier access to zoo babies. It's great. Yes, one 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:47.280 leader in that was a different hippospecies. In twenty seventeen, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.960 a Nile hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo gave birth to 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:56.040 a baby six weeks prematurely, and the world happily followed 0:21:56.119 --> 0:21:59.399 the successful work to get that premi hippo through her 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.040 first month and then also enjoyed her activities. Her name 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.320 is Fiona. This hippo i've heard of, Fiona is pretty 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:08.080 world famous at the Cincinnati Zoo. 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:14.120 Baby animals are mostly universally cute. Some of them come 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:19.879 out looking heinously ugly, especially bird babies, but I still 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:23.120 there's something about how ugly they are that is also 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.560 cute to me. So I love pretty much any baby animal. 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:30.960 One prime example of the funny lookingness becoming cute was 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:34.480 a baby penguin recently named Pesto, who was enormous and 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:35.720 had funky feathers. 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:40.240 I'm aware of Pesto. I've been following Pesto huge. 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.479 So there's a zoo baby for everybody. Go look up 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.480 your favorites. It's great. It's just just a joy. I 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:51.280 also want to shout out zoo moms. It's a less 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:53.520 i think, celebrated element, but there are a bunch of 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:56.960 exciting famous zoo moms all over the world. And one 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.800 of the first famous ones the year is nineteen ninety 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:04.720 because in nineteen ninety six, a Western Lowland gorilla named 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:08.600 Binti Jua saved the life of a three year old human. 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:11.800 This is one of the Brickfield Zoo stories that was 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:15.400 also world news. They have a gorilla enclosure at their 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:20.240 Tropic World exhibit where guests are pretty far above the animals, 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:22.879 and so a three year old boy fell into it 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:27.520 and was knocked unconscious. Binti Jewah physically shielded him from 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:31.520 any other gorillas until keepers rescued him. And she also 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:34.520 did that while her seventeen month old gorilla baby was 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.560 on her back, and so it was like a thrilling 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.879 animal motherhood and also protecting a human story for the world. 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:45.520 Yeah, that's amazing. And to be clear, like the other 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:50.359 gorillas might not have done anything to the toddler because 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:54.600 they were probably really curious, but she probably had some 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:59.359 instinct of like, no, no, this is very delicate, like 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:04.520 because their curiosity could you know, really severely hurt or 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:08.240 even kill a human child. And yeah, it's just delicate, 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:12.240 pretty incredible that not only is there that capacity for 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:16.960 empathy an understanding of the situation, but just the variability 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:20.360 and responses. Right, Like you have these some girls really excited, 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:22.920 maybe they want to play in a way that might 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:25.680