A Seriously Fun Place

Zoo folks often use Steinhart Aquarium interchangeably with its parent organization, the California Academy of Science.  I certainly found the association between the two pleasing.  I have always liked it when zoos and aquariums are linked with other scientific organizations.  It helps to remind visitors (and management, who might need the lesson even more) that we aren't just a place for a fun family outing.  We also are (or at least we have the potential to be) serious scientific institutions that do (or at least have the potential to do) serious scientific work.  Some facilities do a better job of upholding that standard than others - places that are large, historic institutions, such as the Smithsonian National Zoo and the Bronx - do the best.  Conversely, no one was ever going to mistake the Natural Bridge Zoo for being a pillar of scientific advancement.

What I wish that zoo and aquarium leadership would realize is that serious education and research is not the antithesis of fun.  Visitors adore the dinosaur displays in museums, where they can also watch scientists behind glass actively working on examining fossils and doing other laboratory work.  No one denies that this is real science.  Why not do more to put a public face on zoo science?  Have a blank wall?  Hang posters of presentations of the scientific research done at the facility.  Have a window?   Show diets being formulated, or animals being weighed (as well as charts of those weights to show the growth curves).  Have a social species?  Share an ethogram so visitors can do their own behavioral studies - and take the opportunity to explain science-driven animal welfare.

Science is fun.  Most people who become keepers know that (organic chemistry being the exception, in my experience).  Sharing that simple fact can help zoos and aquariums inspire future scientists.