What books do you recommend all keepers read? So far I have read Don’t Shoot the Dog and Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?. I know those are pretty standard, but I was wondering if you knew of any other good general animal care books?
Zookeeping: An Introduction to the Science and Technology is one of the top ones when it comes to animal care. Zoo Animals: Behaviour, Management and Welfare is another one that comes to mind and is a bit more recent. When it comes to reading books on animal care once you get past the basics of the books you mentioned and general zoo science books, you’ll probably want to look into books with a more narrow focus on the specific kind of animals you may be working with.
But honestly while we’re on the subject of books, the one book I want to recommend all keepers read is Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo
So many zoo professionals harken back to the olden zoo days as just something we’ve moved on from but they don’t recognize the significance of zoo history in culture. If it’s so important that we be unlike the “old” and “cruel” zoos, then it is also important that we understand what those zoos really were. It is also important that we understand why and how zoos changed into what they are now.
This book goes into detail about the Haegenbeck revolution, which happened when a zoo company in Germany in the early 1900′s started the concept of the modern zoo aesthetic. The park they built was “generally seen as the breakthrough moment of modern zoo design when animals were freed from their cages to live in a naturalistic enclosure.” It was the first time animals were separated from each other using moats instead of visual barriers. This was all done not to benefit the animal… but to make visitors more comfortable and bring in money.
Savages and Beasts also goes into the darkest part of zoo history that is far more shameful than iron bars - exhibiting humans. Displaying “exotic” humans from around the world in a “natural” setting was common for many, many years alongside displaying animals. The chapter that explores this, “Fabulous Animals” is a journey that made me feel gutted and sick but also empowered me to fight against colonialism in zoos as it harkened back to the saddest side of our history.
I will warn you that Savages and Beasts may be a difficult read, because it treats zoos as something to be examined and explored, but not something to be worshipped. It respects them and analyzes them but doesn’t do so in a saccharine way. It can be a bit dense and textbook-like at times, and may make you feel uncomfortable, but it will allow you to view zoos through a much larger lens that spans centuries and dozens of cultural ideologies.
I read Savages and Beasts in the summer of 2012 while traveling to zoos across the country, and I actually got to meet the author, Nigel Rothfels. We met up at the Milwaukee County Zoo and he talked about his book and showed me around. I can confirm that despite his book’s hard look at zoos, he does still like and enjoy them, and he sees them as important.
To this day it remains one of my favorite books both personally and professionally.
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