Henry Doorly Zoo Research

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What exactly is a zoo? A zoo is an establishment that maintains a collection of wild animals, typically in a park or gardens, for study, conservation, or display to the public. But if you think about it a zoo is just a collection of animals, it could be anything from a gas station with a collection of birds to what you normally picture a zoo to be, acres of land with built structures to house different animals for a tourist attraction. I am going to focus on the typically pictured zoo. The three things that define a zoo are as follows: a tourist attraction, a research opportunity, and an education tool for visitors. The Henry Dooly Zoo is located in Omaha, Nebraska and is currently ranked the number one zoo in the world due to the amount of structures they …show more content…
The Henry Doorly Zoo with partners has developed techniques that vitro fertilization and artificial insemination and created a sperm bank for more than 20,000 species. (Omaha Zoo Research Page) This is cutting edge research that is not only working with a large collection of animals but it is actually creating a preserved collection for the future. The Henry Doorly Zoo is not only doing research within the walls of the zoo but has expanded it works with other zoos in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. This is a key aspect to research because even though the zoo has a large variety of species to conduct research on they are doing research on outside species with the intention to learn more about their habitats and diets with the possibility of bringing them back to the zoo and having the capability of housing them in conditions that reflect those of their home. It is a very large transition going from the wild to the captivity and if done incorrectly can result in fatal results for the animal and that is the last thing any zoo wants to