The first gorilla to ever be raised by humans since birth, Colo, recently passed away in her sleep at the age of 60. One of the reasons that is speculated to have led her to such a long life (20 years above average) was the human care she received. The shooting of Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo last May spurred debate about whether animals like gorillas even belong in zoos. But most zoo animals won’t be leaving anytime soon, and they require care that emphasizes their welfare if people want them to have long lives like Colo. However, in the past, zoo animals were poorly treated and they were trained to behave a certain way through food deprivation, sedation, etc. In human care, a mother gorilla may not want or be able to care for her young. To get past this, zookeepers, like those at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, become gorilla surrogates who stay with infants at all times. Zookeepers also minimize human contact by training infants to approach the bottle, eliminating human reliance. Overall, even though zoos may be perceived as a prison for animals, they do have their benefits. Training animals to better care for themselves could provide them with a longer life. However, there will always be negative aspects of zoos, like the Harambe incident. Furthermore, this raises the question of whether zoos are a positive or negative thing. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/science/colo-gorilla-zoo-animals.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fearth&action=click&contentCollection=earth®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNatalie Archives
November 2016
Categories |