A sad reflection on the primate in the zoo
Published: 01 Oct. 2024, 19:53
The author is a professor of archaeology at the University of Toronto.
I went to the zoo with my daughter for the first time in a while. It is the largest zoo in Canada, home to more than 300 species of animals. Since I was a child, I went to zoos often because I loved animals, and I had dreamed of becoming a wildlife photographer.
However, when I visited a zoo in the United States after I became an adult, I witnessed a strange scene. I saw a chimpanzee put its mouth on a glass window, put a thick saliva on it, and then lick it off again.
Visitors booed when they saw this.
How bored the chimpanzee must have been to came up with this action which evoked extreme reactions from visitors! I collapsed and cried, thinking about the poor life of the primate stuck behind the window for the rest of his life. Since then, I stopped visiting zoos.
The modern zoological parks originated in London in the 19th century, but the concept goes back to the royal menageries in the medieval and ancient times. It is widely known that Roman emperors displayed animal collections from various places and had them fight in arenas. The menagerie in Hierakonpolis, Egypt, which was discovered in 2009, is the oldest zoo in the world, built in 3500 B.C.
For famous animal collectors — including Henry I and III of England, King Zhou of China and Louis XIV of France — rare animals were symbols of the authority and wealth of the royal families. In contrast, modern zoos emphasize scientific research, ecological preservation and the importance of education. But I cannot help but feel pity when I see primates confined in small spaces and predatory animals that cannot run around.
Let’s not forget that only about 100 years ago, humans were kept in cages for display. What thoughts were on the mind of Ota Benga, a member of the Pygmy tribe from Congo, being watched by white people as he was exhibited in the Bronx Zoo with chimpanzees in 1906? Many thoughts come to mind about human civilizations that have gone through too many changes in such a short period of time.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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