The Modern Ark: The Story of Zoos: Past, Present and Future

by Vicki Constantine Croke

Examines the evolution of zoos from concrete-paved mazes to naturally-landscaped education centers focused on the preservation of endangered species, and explores the issues facing zoos today

Genres: Animals, Nonfiction, History, Nature, Natural History, Science

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1951

About the author

Vicki Constantine Croke has been covering pets and wildlife for more than a decade, writing the "Animal Beat" column for The Boston Globe.
Croke is the author of The Lady and the Panda, Animal ER, The Modern Ark, and has also written for Time, People, The Washington Post, and Popular Science, among others.
A former writer and producer for CNN, she has been a contributing reporter for the National Public Radio environment show "Living on Earth" and consults on film and television projects, most recently a two-hour documentary on gorillas for the A&E channel.

Reviews

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an entertaining and enlightening look at modern zoos, as well as their historical equivalents. However, Croke seems not quite to have made up her mind how she, personally, feels about zoos. This is fine in that I think most people have mixed opinions. However, she never explores this confusion, leaving us with a fragmented view of her personality. In one chapter, she will emphasize that truly naturalistic, complex habitats are absolutely vital to happy, healthy social animals. And with the next breath she tells a heart-warming story of a male gorilla and his daughter playing together in a bare cement cell. Had she noted, even with one sentence this discrepancy, (possibly about it being impossible to predict the behavior of wild animals) it would have been a complex and poignant point. Instead she leaves the reader confused as to what message she is to take away from this chapter.

The book also suffers from a somewhat under-developed organizational scheme, which confused me quite a lot. Or perhaps it's extremely well organized and I just never caught on. Croke also has a habit of introducing a character, not mentioning them for pages and then referring to them by just their surname, without any context or affiliation, leaving the reader to flip back through the page to figure out who she's talking about. ("Shanti the elephant? Is that OUR Shanti? How common an elephant name IS Shanti?")

Despite its weaknesses, though, the last two chapters of the book, wherein Croke lays out the "Zoo of the Future" is worth the entire book. I highly recommend at least this section to anyone thinking about the role and design of zoos.

[Callie Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Animals in captivity show many of the same symptoms of mental asylum patients. In the book, The Modern Ark, author Vicki Croke explains these behaviors and how they can be fixed. This book was published in 1997, so it does not entail the most recent information. However, it is a very compelling read that had me hooked from the first chapter. Croke focuses on the lives of wild animals in captivity and how captivity can be destructive to an animal’s health. Throughout the book, Croke offers suggestions for how an animal’s well being could improve while in captivity. I chose to read this book because I used to love zoos when I was little, but as I got older I came to the realization of how sad some of the animals were. I can relate to this book because it mentions the Henry Doorly Zoo, which I have been to numerous times. I found it very surprising that even though Omaha has one of the best “indoor jungles”, Croke found numerous problems with it. When I first picked up this book, I had no idea what to expect, but now that I have read it I would definitely recommend it. On the contrary, The Modern Ark isn’t for everyone. This book is intended for older readers because the words are big for younger children to understand. I would also not recommend this book to anyone who greatly enjoys zoos; numerous facts in this book will give the reader a different view of zoos and their enclosures. All in all this factual, fast moving book will have the reader in awe from beginning to end.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took two stars off because the blurb on the cover says it is "upbeat", and in my opinion, it definitely is not upbeat (example: when talking about the rate of extinction, the sentence "It is all completely irreversible"). It does not sugar coat anything about the future of animals on this planet. I added a star back because it really made me think about conservation and solidify what I already know about the positive things that are being done to help.

It was published in 1997, so a lot of the information is old. I did Google some of it and write the updated data in the margins of the book for any future readers. The history of zoos was interesting, though, if a little dense and repetitive.

I'm glad I read it, and it would be a good book to read as one of many about zoos. If you're looking to read just one book to get an overview of the subject, I would recommend that you find a more up to date book.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid account from a North American perspective of the state of the zoo and zoo-related conservation as it stood at the end of the last century.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intelligent, humane, and beautiful work

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

How has this book not come up more often in zoo discussions? Another book that should be required reading for zookeepers. The specific ground it covers is nothing unique (a brief history of zoos and a call for a change in the future and commitment to true conservation), but it is the most well-cited and well-worded books on the subject I have come across. A particular aspect I have not seen addressed before is the preservation of behaviors in addition to genetics. Well done. My only real problem is that Croke's personal bias towards institutions as a whole practically screams from every paragraph. According to her, it seems the San Diego Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, and Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, can absolutely do no wrong and are triumphantly leading modern zoos to the future. Most other zoos get a pretty negative presentation, with a particular need to attack the Franklin Park Zoo at every opportunity. It makes me think she is more easily blinded by PR than she is aware. It is fortunate most of her assertions are so well-cited; the careful reader simply needs to sift the fact from the opinion.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good review of zoos and issues facing them. The issues facing zoos (ethics, conservation, education etc.) are only increasing but the ways in which we deal with them and view them are forever changing.
This is a good book for anyone interested in zoos, conservation or animal rights. I would have given it four stars instead of three but this book was publised over ten years ago and alot has changed in that time. If there is a more recent book on the subject, I would go with that first.

[Alexa Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of the purpose and structure of modern zoos.

[Hectaizani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copyright 1997 this book is a little bit out of date. It was a well-researched study of the problems facing zoos and conservation at the time when it was published.