"Elizabeth Hanson's "Animal Attractions" is much more than a history of zoological parks, it is rather a phenomenology of zoos and zoo people."--Terry Maple, Director, Zoo Atlanta

"Hanson's finely crafted chronicle of the American zoo traces the perennial struggle between the need to entertain, the desire to educate, and the yearning for natural and scientific authenticity that surrounds the public exhibition of wild animals in captivity. "Animal Attractions" is essential reading for anyone with an interest in zoos and their history."--James Serpell, author of In the "Company of Animals: A Study of Human-Animal Relationships"

"This thoroughly researched book explores the cultural and physical landscapes of America's zoos in fascinating detail. Hanson follows the progress--and the pitfalls--of every aspect of their journey from menageries to centers of conservation. She unflinchingly examines the wretched and the wonderful, the mediocre and the magnificent, and along the way she asks intelligent questions and reveals intriguing insights into an institution that is rarely examined with any seriousness."--David Hancocks, Director, Victoria's Open Range Zoo

"This is an innovative, well-researched, engagingly written, and important study of the cultural history of zoos in America. Hanson is the first to tackle this rich subject in a book, and what she achieves is impressive."--Richard Burkhardt, author of "The Spirit of System"

""Animal Attractions" provides a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at an important but historically neglected institution: the American zoo. Anyone who has ever enjoyed a day at the zoo will want to read this book to learn more about why we find theexperience so compelling."--Mark V. Barrow, author of "A Passion for Birds"

The fifty color photographs in Frank Noelker's Captive Beauty are not simple, uncomplicated shots of animals in zoo settings; there is an ambivalence in them that only gradually envelops the viewer. Their sad, stark beauty confronts viewers, challenging them to consider the nature, purpose, and effects of zoos. Captive Beauty includes a short epigraph by the photographer. The proceeds from this work will go to the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation.

Sculpted into graceful contours by countless centuries of wind and water, the Great Sand Dunes sprawl along the eastern fringes of the vast San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. Covering an area of nearly thirty square miles, they are the tallest aeolian, or wind-produced, dunes in North America, towering 750 feet above the valley floor. With the addition of the enormous Baca Ranch and other adjacent lands, the dunes-originally designated as a National Monument in 1932-attained official National Park status in 2004. In Sea of Sand, Michael M. Geary guides readers on a historical journey through this unique ecosystem, which includes an array of natural and cultural wonders, from the main dunefield and verdant wetlands to the summits of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Described by explorer Zebulon Pike as "a sea in a storm" and by frontier photographer William Henry Jackson as "a curious and very singular phase of nature's freak," the Great Sand Dunes are a nexus of more than 10,000 years of human history, from Paleolithic big-game hunters to nomadic Native Americans, from Spanish conquistadores and transcontinental explorers to hard-rock miners and modern-day tourists in motor homes. Like these successive waves of visitors, Sea of Sand follows the water, analyzing its critical role in the settlement and development of the region. Geary also describes the profound impact that waves of human use and settlement have had on the land-which ultimately inspired the early grassroots efforts by San Luis Valley citizens to protect the dunes from further exploitation. He examines as well the more recent legislative effort led by an unprecedented coalition of local, state, and federal agencies and organizations, including The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service, to secure the Great Sand Dunes' national park designation. Amply illustrated, Sea of Sand is the definitive history of the natural, cultural, and political forces that helped shape this incomparable landscape.

'With characteristic self-effacement, she puts the escapades of charismatic animals ahead of her own feelings.' The Guardian. When George Mottershead moved to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny's lemon curd. Pelican, penguin or polar bear - for June, they were simply family. The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. Yet George's resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity eventually paid off. Now over 80 years since June first set foot in the echoing house, Chester Zoo has achieved worldwide renown. Here, in her enthralling memoir, June Mottershead chronicles the heartbreak, the humour, the trials and triumphs, above all the characters, both human and animal, who shaped her childhood.

This book discusses biodiversity, management and environmental issues of several national parks around the world. The first chapter presents general principles of access to national parks for tourism and recreation under the provisions of the Nature Conservation Act. Chapter Two examines the contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) exploitation to poverty alleviation in the Fako-Meme Forest region of Cameroon, as well as the nexus between NTFPs exploitation and forest conservation. Chapter Three studies the visitors' profile and travel motivations for the Peneda-Geres National Park of Portugal. Chapter Four focuses on the welfare of captive breeding stock for reintroductions into Saudi Arabian national parks.

Recognized today as one of America's best zoos, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden has become one of Columbia, South Carolina's most popular tourist destinations and one of the most visited zoos in the southeastern United States. Riverbanks celebrates its fortieth anniversary on April 25, 2014. Over the last four decades both the zoo and the garden have been honored with many regional and national awards for excellence.
Among its many accolades, Riverbanks has received five prestigious Edward H. Bean Awards from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, most recently in 2011 for the long-term breeding and conservation of the endangered Bali mynah. Riverbanks also has been honored with three Travel Attraction of the Year Awards by the Southeast Tourism Society and two Governor's Cup Awards by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism as the state's Most Outstanding Attraction. Riverbanks Botanical Garden has received praise by Horticulture magazine as one of ten gardens that inspire and by HGTV as one of twenty great public gardens in the United States.
What began in the mid-1960s as a modest dream of a few business leaders to create a small children's petting zoo has evolved into today's nationally ranked Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, visited by more than one million guests annually and supported by a membership base of more than thirty-three thousand households. Riverbanks is home to more than two thousand animals, which reside in natural habitat exhibits with barriers that are designed to create an environment almost totally free of bars and cages.
Much like the zoo itself, this book features extraordinary animals, dynamic natural habitats, and significant historic landmarks. Riverbanks's rich history is captured here through anecdotal stories and nearly two hundred brilliant photographs and illustrations, making it easy to see why Riverbanks is recognized as one of the nation's great zoological parks and botanical gardens.
Readers will discover some of the world's most magnificent and fascinating plants and animals that call Riverbanks home, while gaining a deeper understanding of how a midsized zoo gained world-class status as it pursued its mission: to foster an appreciation and concern for all living things.

What started as a vision about the Olifants River Game Reserve has become the story of a game ranger's life. With a naturalist's eye for detail as well as the bigger picture of managing a fragile ecosystem through years of drought and plenty, Mario Cesare brings a storyteller's delight – and a dash of Italian passion – to sharing his world. Life-and-death encounters with lion, elephant and buffalo are balanced by rescues and interventions as these giants of the lowveld suffer the effects of human interference in their ecosystem. There are problems with poachers and with rapacious neighbours; then the delights of success – and in the case of the elephant population, the conundrums of too much success. Mario Cesare's career has taken him from Timbavati and Mala Mala to Olifants River and beyond – and he delights in sharing his good fortune. His latest task: to develop and nurture the Olifants River Game Reserve as the fences of the Greater Kruger National Park area fall, undoing generations of damage. Man-eaters, Mambas and Marula Madness: A Game Ranger's Life in the Lowveld provides a wealth of lessons on conservation as well as stories of life in the bush as it is enjoyed only by those fortunate enough to live on a 'Big Five' reserve.

From the world-famous Kruger National Park in South Africa, to Botswana's Okavango Delta, Namibia's Etosha National Park and Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, ecotravellers want to experience African savannahs, forests, deserts, and other stunning habitats and catch glimpses of some of the world's most spectacular wildlife: hornbills and parrots, monkeys and big cats, frogs and toads, crocodiles and snakes. In this title is all the information you need to find, identify, and learn about Southern Africa's magnificent animal life. The authors, professional biologists, have selected for colour illustrations more than 500 of Southern Africa's most common amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals - the species you are most likely to see.

Since the 1960s, zoos and aquariums have been repeatedly challenged by animal rights activists, regulatory agencies, anti-tax advocates, and an assortment of litigators. Working through the American Zoological Association, these institutions learned to use the U.S. political system to their advantage and, simultaneously, crafted a more progressive public mission. This original study draws upon interviews, archival sources, Congressional records, court cases, regulatory hearings, media accounts, and the authors' ongoing field research.

Since emerging as a discipline in the middle of the eighteenth century, natural history has been at the heart of the life sciences. It gave rise to the major organizing theory of life--evolution--and continues to be a vital science with impressive practical value. Central to advanced work in ecology, agriculture, medicine, and environmental science, natural history also attracts enormous popular interest.

In "Finding Order in Nature" Paul Farber traces the development of the naturalist tradition since the Enlightenment and considers its relationship to other research areas in the life sciences. Written for the general reader and student alike, the volume explores the adventures of early naturalists, the ideas that lay behind classification systems, the development of museums and zoos, and the range of motives that led collectors to collect. Farber also explores the importance of sociocultural contexts, institutional settings, and government funding in the story of this durable discipline.

"The quest for insight into the order of nature leads naturalists beyond classification to the creation of general theories that explain the living world. Those naturalists who focus on the order of nature inquire about the ecological relationships among organisms and also among organisms and their surrounding environments. They ask fundamental questions of evolution, about how change actually occurs over short and long periods of time. Many naturalists are drawn, consequently, to deeper philosophical and ethical issues: What is the extent of our ability to understand nature? And, understanding nature, will we be able to preserve it? Naturalists question the meaning of the order they discover and ponder our moral responsibility for it."--from the Introduction

A breathtaking country of rugged mountain peaks, uninhabited desert, and spectacular river canyons, Big Bend is one of the United States' most remote national parks and among Texas' most popular tourist attractions. Located in the great bend of the Rio Grande that separates Texas and Mexico, the park comprises some 800,000 acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, and draws over 300,000 visitors each year.

The Story of Big Bend National Park offers a comprehensive, highly readable history of the park from before its founding in 1944 up to the present. John Jameson opens with a fascinating look at the mighty efforts involved in persuading Washington officials and local landowners that such a park was needed. He details how money was raised and land acquired, as well as how the park was publicized and developed for visitors. Moving into the present, he discusses such issues as natural resource management, predator protection in the park, and challenges to land, water, and air. Along the way, he paints colorful portraits of many individuals, from area residents to park rangers to Lady Bird Johnson, whose 1966 float trip down the Rio Grande brought the park to national attention.

This history will be required reading for all visitors and prospective visitors to Big Bend National Park. For everyone concerned about our national parks, it makes a persuasive case for continued funding and wise stewardship of the parks as they face the twin pressures of skyrocketing attendance and declining budgets.

Journey into the heart of South Africa’s most exclusive wildlife sanctuaries with award-winning wildlife photographer Gerald Hinde and author Will Taylor. This stunning coffee table book offers unprecedented access to the private game reserves and concessions of the Greater Kruger National Park, showcasing both spectacular photography and intimate stories from decades of wildlife observation.

Through masterful storytelling and extraordinary imagery, the authors reveal the hidden world of these exclusive reserves, from intimate leopard encounters to dramatic predator-prey interactions. The book provides a comprehensive exploration of the area’s rich history, diverse ecosystems, and the delicate balance between conservation and luxury tourism.

This landmark publication offers a unique view into one of Africa’s most exclusive wildlife destinations, combining practical information with extraordinary storytelling and photography to create an essential reference for anyone interested in African wildlife and conservation.

Established in 1836, the Bristol Zoo is the world’s oldestsurviving zoo outside of a capital city and has frequently been at the vanguard of zoo innovation. In The Wild Within, Andrew Flack uses the experiences of the Bristol Zoo to explore the complex and ever-changing relationship between human and beast, which in many cases has altered radically over time. Flack recounts a history in which categories and identities combined, converged, and came into conflict, as the animals atBristol proved to be extremely adaptive. He also reveals aspects of the human-animal bond, however, that have remained remarkably consistent not only throughout the zoo’s existence but for centuries, including the ways in which even the captive animals with the most distinct qualities and characteristics are misunderstood when viewed through an anthropocentric lens. Flack strips back the layers of the human-animal relationship from those rooted in objectification and homogenization to those rooted in the recognition of consciousness and individual experience. The multifaceted beasts and protean people in The Wild Within challenge a host of assumptions--both within and outside the zoo- about what it means to be human or animal in the modern world.

Grand Teton National Park draws more than three million visitors annually in search of wildlife, outdoor adventure, solitude, and inspiration. This collection of writings showcases the park's natural and human histories through stories of drama and beauty, tragedy and triumph. Editor Robert Righter has selected thirty-five contributors whose work takes readers from the Tetons' geological origins to the time of Euro-American encroachment and the park's politically tumultuous creation. Selections range from Laine Thom's Shoshone legend of the Snake River and Owen Wister's essay 'Great God! I've Just Killed a Bear,' to Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson's humorous yet fearful account of crossing the Snake River, and William Owen's first attempt to climb the Grand Teton. Conservationists, naturalists, and environmentalists are also represented: Terry Tempest Williams chronicles her multiyear encounter with her 'Range of Memory,' and Olaus and Mardy Murie recount the difficulties of 'park-making' in an often-hostile human environment. Anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the park's wild beauty and controversial past will want to read these stories by people who lived it.

From King Solomon's collections of "apes and peacocks" to the menageries of English and Hapsburg monarchs, the display of exotic animals has delighted and amazed observers for centuries. Originally prized as symbols of elite wealth and power, such collections have been dramatically transformed since 1800--particularly in terms of audience and purpose.

In "New Worlds, New Animals," R. J. Hoage and William A. Deiss assemble essays that concentrate on the development of the modern zoo in the nineteenth century. Taking an in-depth look at the social climate of the century, they chart the transition from elaborate menageries for exclusive patrons to public facilities that expressed the power and might of nations to institutions dedicated to public education, wildlife conservation, and biological research. These changes reflect the larger transformation of the West--from the colonial era's desire to "tame" newly discovered continents to today's more egalitarian, conservation-minded world.

"New Worlds, New Animals" begins with an overview of the history of menageries in antiquity and their development in Europe and the United States. Zoos in many countries had quite different origins--including a fish market that became an animal dealership before becoming a zoo and an Australian way station originally designed to acclimate Old World domestic stock to a new continent.

The authors also examine the period in the United States between 1830 and 1880, when popular traveling animal shows and circuses gave way to the first public zoos in New York and Philadelphia. They take an in-depth look at the establishment of the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.--the first zoo created to preserve endangered species. Illustrated with nearly 100 photographs, "New Worlds, New Animals" gives readers a new respect for and understanding of the role of zoos in social and cultural history.

What stories do we tell about America's once-great industries at a time when they are fading from the landscape? Pennsylvania in Public Memory attempts to answer that question, exploring the emergence of a heritage culture of industry and its loss through the lens of its most representative industrial state. Based on news coverage, interviews, and more than two hundred heritage sites, this book traces the narrative themes that shape modern public memory of coal, steel, railroading, lumber, oil, and agriculture, and that collectively tell a story about national as well as local identity in a changing social and economic world.

"A well-written and provocative, opinion-rich account of zoos, their history, and their goals and purposes. Hancocks has earned the right to speak authoritatively about these subjects, thanks to his tenure as director of two leading U. S. zoos. This book will appeal to general readers and to all persons interested in zoos and their role in conservation and education."--John Alcock, author of "Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach"

"Giraffes, elephants, gorillas, snakes, and toucans respond poorly to the usual conventions of human architecture. Zoo architects usually respond no less poorly to the needs of animals. David Hancocks draws on a lifetime's experience working as a zoo director and zoo architect to explore this dilemma, and offers a compelling vision for the future. This is an important book for those interested in conservation as well as for zoo and museum buffs."--William Conway, former President and General Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Bronx Zoo

"For over two decades David Hancocks has fervently tried to reform the fundamental character and mission of zoos. This book is his most thorough analysis of what is wrong with them and his most detailed and compelling plea for improvement. Every conscientious zoo administrator, curator, and keeper should read it from cover to cover with an open mind. Professionals in botanical gardens, museums, and nature parks should also consider this treatise because Hancocks advocates that a fusion of all of these institutions into a new entity better positioned to interpret the entire biosphere."-Mark A. Dimmitt, Director of Natural History, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum