Event name: The National Zoological Garden
Event time and place: Washington, DC (May 5th)
The National Zoological Garden in Washington, DC holds a plethora of information present to the public for them to learn about the impact animals have as well as some of the impact we have on them. Within the zoo there are several different exhibits centered around collections of animals such as the Small Mammal House, the Bird House, the Amazonia, the Reptile Discovery Center, just to name a few. In particular the Small Mammal House and Reptile Discovery Center stuck out to me.
Within the Small Mammal House there were glass panels displaying the animals living within with plaques next to them containing a picture, the name, its scientific name, a map of the region it is from, its range, habitat, diet, and some fun facts. Animals such as the Provost’s squirrel, Fennec Fox, Prehensile-tailed Porcupine, and Brush-tailed Bettong were in plain sight around their enclosure allowing me to take a few pictures. Outside of just plaques there were some other displays of information around such as x-rays of different limbs with text that explained what to take note of in the skeletal structure, followed by a short wall with other x-rays and a quiz asking the viewer to guess what the picture was. Overall the exhibit was very organized and had insightful information to how these animals behave in nature. Additionally, they were formatted in such a way that it was appealing to look at and the word choice was simple enough that elementary students could easily comprehend it, leading many to read the information rather than just look at the animals.
Similarly, the Reptile Discovery Center had panels displaying the reptiles housed within with plaques displaying a picture, its name, scientific name, habitat along with a picture, rage with a highlighted map, and fun facts. Reptiles of all shapes and sizes were housed inside. From African Plated Lizards to Komodo Dragons to Home’s Hinge-back tortoises and even Henkel’s Leaf-Tailed Geckos the exhibit was chalked full of critters big and small. Besides the plaques there were skeletons of reptiles that showed bone structure, how they carry eggs, how their stomachs hold food they eat, there was a display comparing the shape of human organs and reptile organs, and there was even a snake's organs laid out and labeled to see what they look like. Although it might not sound that pleasant, the area is still set up similarly to the Small Mammal House in that the information was nice and easy to understand even at an elementary level but since it was rainy that day the reptiles were likely slower and thus did less, leading more people to read the plaques inquiring as to how they behaved outside of lazing around when it is a little cold.
Besides the buildings housing different themes for people to come and see there were also other things set up to spread education amongst the zoo visitors. One interesting way is having different environmental companies set up booths and allow people to check out what they have set up. When we went there was an amphibian booth set up that quizzed people on amphibian trivia, providing stickers and pins to those that participated. Another thing they had were informative staff around in the exhibits for if people had questions or just to give a little insight as to what exactly the different displays might be.
Although zoos are enjoyable for the general public, what about the animals? Do they enjoy being held up in small glass enclosures being stared at by people day after day? Well to make them feel more at home nearly every exhibit is set up with some sort of decoration to mimic an environment similar to that in which they would live in the wild. There was even an area called Lemur Island which hosted a variety of different lemurs that was a large formation of rocks surrounded by a moat with a waterfall, a wooden owl, ropes to swing on, a small hut, and many more. Another example is in the Amazonia where the entire upper area is a free roam animal area with an extremely different light level, humidity, temperature, among other things that makes the animals within it feel more comfortable with their surroundings.