Hey, everyone! I’m back again, and not talking about the things that I experience during the day. It’s about a passion that I don’t find myself talking about enough.
The last time I made a post on a zoo, it was a bit depressing. Zoos are a very polarizing topic to talk about. While people think that ALL zoos shouldn’t be allowed, I personally disagree with that statement. Just because there are SOME bad zoos out there, that doesn’t mean that ALL zoos should be banned. And I say this as a teen who loves wildlife and sees it as the path to my future.
Because of this, I’ve been looking at this YouTube channel called Casual Geographic. The channel basically talks about animal, ecology, and zoology facts that do not stray away from the dark side of Mother Nature (who knew that butterflies drink sweat and blood as sources of protein? Doesn’t help my fear of butterflies but ok). But, the channel also breaks the stereotypes of animals seen as “evil” (a seemingly ruthless leopard seal actually sings to find a mate!) That said, Casual Geographic is one of my favorite YouTube channels.
Recently, the channel recently posted a video about touring a zoo called the San Diego Zoo and its sister location: the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The video was made to clarify one thing: not all zoos are bad. In fact, some can be crucial to the preservation of animals.
And the video definitely was inspiring to me. But for a different reason.
The San Diego Zoo is so UNIQUE. It has SO many animals that aren’t shown to the public ANYWHERE ELSE (in the US I mean). First, it’s one out of a handful of zoos that have a Tasmanian devil, the largest carnivorous marsupial (and it’s pretty small)! And it’s one of three zoos in the country to still have PANDA BEARS (my sister’s favorite animal) after a handful returned to China last year. But best of all? The Safari Park has SO much more to offer.
Don’t believe me? Well, the video showed that the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is the ONLY place outside of Australia (and I mean it when I say ONLY) that has a captive DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS. You know, the only monotreme (a mammal that lays eggs) that ISN’T an echidna (there are four different species). The Safari Park is also home to an endangered species of wild horse that is slowly being restored. What’s also being restored is the California Condor population, a mission to save America’s largest land bird from extinction. The only thing that sucks is that the condors are not available to public eye, to minimize interaction with humans for maximum survival rates in the wild.
But the San Diego Zoo not only hosts different animals, it also hosts the FUTURE of those animals. Frozen in liquid nitrogen in the depths of its labs, the San Diego Zoo has preserved over 11,000 DNA samples of animals, from extinct to endangered, in hopes of reviving them again.
With all that to say, I have MANY colleges that I want to visit in California, but one thing’s for certain: I NEED to stop by here to complete my bucket list.
See you all next time!
– Nova S