zoo

zoo

This entry is compiled and applied by "popular science China" Science Encyclopedia

to examine

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Zoological garden is a place for collecting and raising all kinds of animals, carrying out scientific research and ex situ protection, for the public to watch, and for scientific popularization and protection education. The zoo has two basic characteristics: first, it keeps and manages wild animals (non domestic animals such as poultry, livestock and pets), and second, it is open to the public. In line with these two basic characteristics of the place is the broad sense of the zoo, including aquarium, special zoo and other types; narrow sense of the zoo refers to the city zoo and wildlife park. The basic function of zoo is to protect wildlife and educate the public.

origin

According to Da Ya in the book of songs, as early as King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, China had built Lingtai and lingmarsh in Fengjing (now the West Bank of Fengshui in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), where all kinds of birds, animals, fish and insects were naturally raised, and the astronomical phenomena and music were observed on the stage. King Wen of Zhou Dynasty also put the collected animals in the garden and ordered his people to study them. This is the earliest natural zoo built by man in Chinese history The king also built many gardens of different scales. He chose the land with dense hills and forests or water and grass, and set up a special person to manage it. He raised animals and animals for hunting. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, most of the animals were kept in the gardens where flowers and trees were planted or in cages for enjoyment.

In Europe, there was a prototype of zoo in ancient Rome. The original prototype of the zoo originated from a hobby of the ancient kings, emperors, princes and nobles. The rare birds and animals collected from all over the world were used in the imperial palace for their enjoyment. Like gold and jewelry, they were symbols of wealth and status. The zoo at that time had nothing to do with ordinary people. In the beginning, this kind of collection behavior was more casual, catching whatever happened. Later, we gradually learned something about animals, and began to have some planning and organization. However, at that time, the animals were all kept in cages, not considering whether they were comfortable or not, but only considering how to make the visitors see more clearly. The collection of rare animals in ur, an important city in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, was described on a stone plaque 2300 B.C., which may be the earliest animal collection behavior recorded by human beings.

It is also recorded that in about 1500 BC, the Egyptian Pharaoh sumus III also had his own animal collection. His stepmother, Queen hazhepsart, also sent an expedition to collect wild animals everywhere. The five ships of the expedition brought back many rare animals, including monkeys, cheetahs and giraffes, as well as many animals that people didn't know what to call at that time. In 1100 BC, tiglath pileser, king of Assyria, also had a large collection of wild animals. At that time, although the animal collection was a symbol of the ruler's power, in the process of animal collection and breeding, people began to gradually understand animals and nature, and began to accumulate the knowledge of domesticated animals.

The rulers of ancient Rome liked to watch lions, tigers and bears fight each other in the Colosseum, or let them fight with people. At that time, some beasts were able to breed in captivity, so in addition to the animals captured all over the world, some of the artificially bred beasts were put into those bloody fights.

Not all the collectors did not care about the welfare of animals. Alexander the great, the ruler of Macedonian, almost conquered the whole world at that time. His army brought back elephants, bears, monkeys and other animals from all over the conquered world. Although the great emperor was very strict, he was said to be very considerate of his animals. Later, Alexander the great passed on his zoo to Ptolemy I, king of Egypt, who built the first planned zoo in history. Aristotle, the famous ancient Greek philosopher and teacher of Alexander the great, observed and studied animals there, and wrote an encyclopedia on zoology, called the history of animals, which describes more than 300 vertebrates. Aristotle may be the first person in the world to study animal behavior, but all he did was because of curiosity.

With the demise of the Roman Empire, human history entered the middle ages with relatively prosperous civilization. During this period, due to the popularity of churches and the development of trade, new cities were constantly established. At this time, people attached great importance to art, education and nature, but were not particularly interested in collecting animals.

Until the 13th century, animal collection began to become a fashion, people flocked, princes and nobles began to exchange animals as gifts. Frederick II, the king of Sicily and the emperor of St. Roman Empire, is a keen supporter of art and science and has a wide collection of animals, including hyenas and giraffes. Three of the cities he ruled had animal collections, many of which were used for scientific research. Frederick took his giraffe to trade with the Sultan of Egypt for polar bears. Just think about the sea in the 13th century, riding a small wooden boat, bumping thousands of miles, God knows how much the polar bear will suffer. Frederick also trained cheetahs to hunt. Frederick took his animals wherever he went, even when he went to wauma, Germany, to get married. He took elephants, camels, monkeys and cheetahs with him. At the wedding, they were dressed in gorgeous dresses and human models.

Until the 18th century, animals had always been the playthings of the upper class, but with the decline of aristocracy in different parts of the world, animal collection gradually became popular. This kind of behavior of collecting animals for exhibition was called "menageries", which means caged animal exhibition It's more organized than random animal collections that don't have rules.

development

The purpose of caged zoo is only to satisfy people's curiosity. The design of the cage did not consider the health of the animals at all, but only considered how to make the visitors see closer and more clearly. There were no facilities except iron railings in the cage, or put the animals into a large sunken pit for people to visit. At that time, this was the best solution.

Henry I, the fourth son of William, a conqueror in English history, once collected a large number of animals. After his grandson, Henry III succeeded to the throne, he moved the royal residence to the tower of London, continued to follow his grandfather's tradition, established the "Royal Zoo", and put many special cages outside the tower of London for other nobles to visit. In 1254, Henry received a gift from Louis IX: an elephant. It was the first time an elephant came to England. The cage built for the elephant is only big enough to hold its huge body. The animals collected in England, sometimes like those in ancient Rome, perform fierce animal fighting performances for visiting Royal guests to enjoy. At that time, the princes and nobles were monopolized, and the common people had no rights. They were not allowed to visit the zoo, but also paid taxes for raising these animals. According to legend, when the polar bear's food was not enough, the keeper took the bear to the Thames River to catch fish by himself. In 1445, Henry VI married Marguerite, a young woman from a Western French state, as his queen. His wedding gift to the queen was a lion. The queen was very satisfied and decided to expand the tower of London Zoo, adding many kinds of animals. The Royal Zoo flourished for several generations.

At the end of the 15th century in Florence, Italy, there was also a famous large cage zoo. It was during the Renaissance that animals were regarded as symbols of beauty and nobility, and images of wolves and lions often appeared on family badges. The animals in the zoo are created by artists as models, and their images are displayed in many outstanding works of art. Da Vinci also kept some animals as models. There are also captive zoos in Germany and Austria. There is a marine zoo in mardburg, where seals, walruses and bison are kept.

The best captive zoo was built by Akbar, the Mughal emperor of India, who had 5000 elephants and 1000 camels by the time he died. He banned fighting among animals and was proud that they could shelter him and that his zoo was open to his subjects. The Akbar emperor's attitude towards animals is an exception, but other rulers are not so kind as him. What they need is to conquer all life, not to appreciate them. A typical example of cruelty is when Europeans crossed the Atlantic Ocean and discovered the new continent of America. In 1521, the Spaniard Cortez came to Aztec, Mexico, Central America. When he came to their capital Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), he and his soldiers found that they came to a strange world. On both sides of the city road were beautiful bird sheds, in which birds sang beautiful songs. The king of Aztec, montizuma, had a fascinating animal harvest Leopards and cougars wander in bronze fences, fish play in deep bronze bowls, and armadillos, monkeys and reptiles are kept in cages, all carefully cared for. But Curtis didn't come here to study. He came to conquer the city, the people

Chinese PinYin : Dong Wu Yuan