Animal Attractions: Nature on Display in American Zoos

by Elizabeth Hanson

Book Overview

On a rainy day in May 1988, a lowland gorilla named Willie B. stepped outdoors for the first time in twenty-seven years, into a new landscape immersion exhibit. Born in Africa, Willie B. had been captured by an animal collector and sold to a zoo. During the decades he spent in a cage, zoos stopped collecting animals from the wild and Americans changed the ways they wished to view animals in the zoo. Zoos developed new displays to simulate landscapes...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691117705
• ISBN13: 9780691117706
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

the History of Zoos

Excellent. An engaging read and a well-balanced critique of zoos (primarily American zoos) over the past 100-odd years. The debate over animal rights is covered throughout, primarily as a progression of measures. Also, the view of zoos as humane/inhumane places for animal life is quite an old debate, as shown well here. Recommended for both students of museology and casual readers.