I think that the so-called four core elements of running the zoo with recreation still being an important one. If we lose sight of the fact, I recall Hope McCormick used to say so often, “If you can’t have fun at the zoo, why have a zoo?” So that I think that the recreation aspect will always be there and important, but I mentioned earlier, I feel the educational component, schools nowadays no longer just go to have a good time on a visit to field trip, today it’s tied into the curriculum. And I think that the zoo of the future should even more so be directly involved with teaching the curriculum of the animal world. Conservation will remain a important priority. I’m not sure how important it is for communities to get involved, it’s important for individuals, and I think for governments to get involved in the conservation of wildlife, because the issues are beyond what normal limited resources can handle. And of course, the research element, that’s part of the fun part for people that work in zoos or other science-related areas, to be able to do meaningful research. We go back to the earliest days of Jane Goodall doing her early work 40, 50 years ago with the chimpanzees at Gambi. George Schaller, who did pioneer work around the world in conservation of different species like snow leopard and mountain gorilla.
