The World Needs Zoos

Zoos play an important role in the world for conservation and education. They are particularly important for endangered species. Many animals are critically endangered and may go extinct in the wild, but in zoos, they are going strong. Many others are already extinct in the wild and only survive thanks to populations kept in captivity(圈禁). Even those critical of zoos often recognize that it is better to have species preserved somewhere than lose them altogether.   【小题1】

Take the ring-tailed lemur of Madagascar(环尾狐猴)for example. These lemurs are almost common in zoos as they breed well in captivity and the public are fond of them. However, despite their high numbers in collections around the world, they are the most threatened mammalian group on the planet. A recent survey suggests that up to 95 percent of the wild populations have been lost since 2000. 【小题2】One bad year or a new disease could wipe out those which still remain in the wild.

Such trends are not isolated. The giraffe is another very common species in zoos. Unlike the lemurs, giraffes are widespread in the countries across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet giraffe populations have gone down by a third in the last thirty years. While less dramatic than the drop in lemur numbers, this is obviously a major loss and again, whole populations (which some scientists think are of unique subspecies) are on the verge of extinction.

【小题3】 Ongoing and future issues from climate change can have unexpected effects on wildlife. It will become more difficult for conservationists to predict which species might be at risk. As it is, experts are struggling to continue monitoring the species that are already known to be vulnerable, so it is easy to see why common species might be overlooked. People might not take the great loss of local species seriously on the assumption that these animals are heavily populated elsewhere, but unfortunately that is not always the case.

There will, I suspect, always be resistance to the argument for keeping animals in captivity and I will not defend the zoos that are badly managed and in desperate need of improvement or closure. But if we wish to keep any real measure of biodiversity on the planet, we may have to lean on zoos far more than many people realize. 【小题4】

File it under strange things cats do! Last month, a post made thousands of people do some rather strange behavior themselves: taping a square on the floor and seeing if their cat would sit in it. Evidently, a lot of feline (猫科的) friends ended up sitting in these pretend boxes their people made, according to the Washington Post. But why? Why do cats love boxes — even outlines (轮期) of boxes?

Well, why do cats do anything they do? People have been trying to figure that out for the past 4,000 years. Feline behavioral scientists say that cats love boxes because seeking out confined (封闭的) spaces is the nature of the larger species from which the domesticated (被驯养的) cats evolved. Out in the wild, confined spaces allow felines to protect themselves and track their prey (捕食物) according to Live Science. A study out of Utrecht University in the Netherlands showed that hiding in boxes significantly reduces cats’ stress levels and can even make them more willing to interact with humans overall. Another study suggests that they are drawn to boxes because they are more comfortable at a higher temperature than most of us keep our homes. Thus, the box provides them with a way to stay warm.

One Reddit user guessed that the ancient Egyptians kept what we now know as the domesticated cat having a natural preference for sitting in boxes because it helped to keep their pets from wandering. “By the hundredth generation or so, even the outline of a box was enough.…. and that habit is still present in them to this day.” This needs more scientific evidence. But it could help to explain why a cat would be drawn to a tape-on-the-floor box.

An experiment published in iScience provides evidence that octopuses (章鱼) feel pain like humans do.

During the experiment, Crook, who comes from San Francisco State University, placed an octopus between two rooms with different lines and spots on the walls, and then observed where she preferred to stay. The next day, in another part of the lab, Crook put acetic acid into one of the octopus’s arms. She says doing so is like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut. When the animal awoke with an aching arm, Crook kept her in the room she had preferred before. The researcher removed the octopus 20 minutes later and used lidocaine to numb (使麻木) her arm. Crook then placed her in the room she had not liked as much at first. After another 20 minutes, Crook returned her to her home container.

Finally, about five hours later, Crook brought the octopus back to the rooms and gave her an alternative: return to the originally preferred room, where she was kept with an aching arm, or go to the one she had not liked as much but where she was numb. Crook ran the experiment with seven octopuses. They all chose to go to the non-preferred room. As a control, Crook put salt water into seven other octopuses. Unlike the experimental group, those octopuses returned to their originally preferred room.

It turned out the octopuses related the room they had once liked better to the ache they felt the last time they were there. Then they compared that experience with their typical pain-free state and decided that how they usually felt was better. Using that information, the octopuses chose to go to the non-preferred room. “There’s a lot of brain processing that has to happen,” Crook says.

Crook’s study suggests that there should be more focus on the welfare of octopuses. Due to people’s ignorance, animals like octopuses are not properly protected in both research and industry in the U.S. Luckily, Crook’s findings, giving us more insights into them, have led to increased protection for octopuses.