There's more to today's zoos than lions, tigers, and bears . Celebrating the zoion, or living creature, today's zoos offer more than a glance at lions, tigers, and bears.
Zoological parks allow visitors to see and experience how their animal friends live and function.
Just as animals have different personalities and special talents, so do zoos, and their staffs work hard at preserving endangered species, studying animals, and educating visitors. As you stroll near the bottom of Olmstead Walk from the Connecticut Avenue entrance to the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., you're struck by something so modern that it's totally incongruous. Orangutans get ready to demonstrate their spectacular mode of locomotion at The National Zoo. The odds are spectacular that they won't lose their grip and fall, and zookeepers are so certain of the orangutans' skills that there are no safety nets under the cables. This is, after all, their natural method of transportation.