Do animals have free will? You can find out at this free zoo

If there's anything better than a professional, informative, and beautiful zoo, it's a professional, informative, and beautiful zoo that's free.

Yes, you heard it right. There is a top zoo in the world that is completely free and open to the public. It is the Smithsonian's National Zoo located in Washington DC (DC), the capital of the United States.

Zoo Gate | Smithsonian's National Zoo

On a mild, cloudy midweek morning in early December, I took a 20-minute bus ride from downtown DC to the Woodley Park highlands in the north. The zoo is surrounded by trees, and the sweetgum, oak, and dogwood trees have all turned their colors, creating a beautiful scene of late autumn and early winter. The zoo was not crowded, so I was able to stroll around and observe the various animals carefully, and I was spared the trouble of queuing to visit popular venues.

View of the Zoo from Adams Morgan | Plum

Such a good zoo, it's free

The Smithsonian Zoo is not very large in terms of scale, and you can visit it in one morning and one lunch. The star species in the zoo are quite famous, including the pandas "Mei Xiang" and "Tian Tian" sent by our country (and their son "Xiao Qi Ji" who was born last year), as well as Siberian tigers, Sumatran tigers, Przewalski's horses, orangutans, etc. The exhibition halls of these "flagship" animals are also quite impressive.

Many people go straight to the Panda Pavilion as soon as they enter the door. It occupies a small hill. Visitors can observe the pandas up close through the glass from inside the pavilion, and can also overlook the pandas from several angles from the Asian Trail above their heads. It is a feast for the eyes. Even when there are a lot of people, a very orderly movement line can be maintained.

Mei Xiang and her son | Plum

Another angle to see the panda house | Li Zi

On the Asian Trail, we could also see the Asian Elephant House from a distance. The weather was nice, and several elephants were walking slowly in the huge garden, rubbing against the pillars and the "scratches" tied to the pillars. The elephant house was designed to be semi-indoor and semi-outdoor. After viewing it from the trail, we could go around to the front and take a closer look at it indoors, but we couldn't see any elephants indoors at that time.

Asian elephant walking | Plum

Tiger Mountain is not only a mountain, but also a large pond surrounding it. When I went there, Nikita, a Siberian tiger, was squatting on the top of the mountain, occasionally inspecting his territory and complaining a few words from time to time.

Tiger Mountain and Nikita inspecting the territory | Plum

Why is such a good zoo free? This is related to the amazing fate of the Smithsonian Institute.

Simply put, in the early 19th century, there was a British aristocratic scientist named James Smithson. He had no children before he died, so he made a will and left his property to his nephew. But for some reason, he added a clause at the end, that if his nephew had no children to inherit the property, then all the property would be donated to the United States to establish an "establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge". And he himself had never even been to the United States!

As luck would have it, his nephew died at the age of 18, leaving no offspring. The U.S. government only learned about this windfall at this time, and Congress argued for a long time about it - should they take the money (it would be a waste if they didn't)? What did Smithson mean by this? How should they deal with this huge sum of money?

Ten years after the will came into effect, the U.S. federal government finally received Smithson's estate (more than 100,000 gold pounds), and it took several more years to establish the Smithsonian Institution. After more than a hundred years of development, the Smithsonian Institution now has dozens of museums, a zoo, and dozens of research institutions, most of which are in DC. These institutions are all affiliated with the U.S. federal government. To put it bluntly, they are supported by taxpayers' money and various funds and donations. They do not seek profits, so they are naturally open to all taxpayers - it's okay if you are not a taxpayer, just go!

Environment and ecology as the theme

Because of the Smithsonian's long-standing mission of knowledge, this zoo is not just an ordinary animal park - it can be said to be the zoo with the most museum pedigree, focusing on exhibitions, research, and education. People who are familiar with Smithsonian museums will have a deep impression of the museum's narrative style - it is not limited to the display of objects, but uses a variety of installations, environmental reconstructions, information boards, data visualization, etc. to convey rich information and constantly communicate with viewers.

A corner of the small mammal pavilion, but the sloths were not open for business that day | Li Zi

The Smithsonian Zoo has also inherited this feature. First, like museum curation, the zoo is divided into several themed areas, and the content is arranged not around animals, but around the environment and ecology. Many animals in the zoo are mixed without interfering with each other, simulating the ecological combination in the natural environment as much as possible.

For example, next to the pool of California sea lions and gray seals, there are also brown pelicans, and not far away are bald (ugh) sea eagles. When I went to see it, sea lions were chasing and playing in the water, and several pelicans were squatting on the artificial reef, basking in the sun lazily. This scene immediately took me to the west coast of the United States, where these animals often live together in harmony - although they are not rare animals, they still remind people to protect the entire marine environment.

California sea lions and two pelicans not far away | Plum

Another feature of the zoo is that it contains a lot of information, but the key points are also highlighted. The display boards are illustrated with pictures and texts, and the information is very reasonably designed. They revolve around the three major themes of animal ecology, distribution, and protection, and help you highlight the key points. You can take a quick look or read each display board carefully, depending on how much knowledge you can digest.

Kudu exhibition board, outdoor exhibition boards are arranged in this way | Li Zi

Indoor Display Board | Plum

The additional information panels are also very unique - in the small mammal pavilion, the panels introduce a lot of enrichment-related content, as well as what the various facilities in the zoo are used for and how the animals use them. As you read along, it's as if an expert is whispering in your ear, asking you to look carefully, clearly, and understand.

Explanation on the display board: The animals sleep in the boxes, which are like tree holes or gaps in the ground to them, which is where they sleep in the wild | Li Zi

This is what the box looks like | Plum

Even in the public areas of the zoo, the zoo has found ways to put up some "animals you can see in daily life" display boards, such as the North American robins in the yard, the dragonflies by the pond, etc., to guide people to pay attention to the environment and animals around them.

Public area display board, introducing common species in ponds, gardens, and yards | Plum

I personally think the most amazing thing is an information visualization device in the elephant house - how much food the elephants eat and how much poop they excrete every day.

How much do elephants eat, drink, and poop every day | Plum

Of course, researchers will also come up to show their presence, and there is a lot of knowledge about animal conservation and research.

This display board shows the researchers' daily inspection of animals | Plum

“Curating” like a museum

Another thing is the "curation" of the museum concept - it turns out that a zoo can also be designed like an exhibition! The most distinctive one is the Small Mammal Pavilion. On one wall is a brief introduction to mammals, including why they are mammals, what special physiological structures each animal has, and what skills are related to these structures.

The physiological structure and corresponding habits of animals | Plum

After learning the knowledge, I looked back at the living animals, and the echo of the coming and going was really clever. It is worth mentioning that the interior of the cages of small mammals also looks like specimen cabinets. Students who have been to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York must have been impressed by the specimen cabinets. The lifelike specimens are placed in a rich and detailed habitat. The distant view is a painting, blending the near and far, which is very vivid. The Smithsonian's animal cages replace the specimens with living things, and provide ample space for activities, as well as facilities to maintain the animals' lives and behaviors.

Black-footed ferret's cage, where is it? | Plum

Did you find it? Here it is! | Plum

A mongoose's cage, with a small mongoose poking its head out from the mound | Li Zi

Another unique pavilion is the Amazon Pavilion. The two-story design highlights the "three-dimensional" habitat of the Amazon Basin. Looking up, you can see dense forests, and below is a large fish tank with the famous ugly arapaima and other freshwater fish. Between the jungle and the pool, there are several pink spoonbills strolling freely, and they don't hide when tourists approach. However, there are double doors at the entrance and exit of the pavilion to prevent them from slipping away.

Amazon Pavilion and Pink Spoonbill | Plum

On the other side of the Amazon Pavilion are tropical amphibians, with many colorful poison frogs. The prominent theme here is research and protection - especially the extremely endangered Panamanian golden frog, of which there are only about a hundred left in the Smithsonian, and researchers are breeding them. The entire amphibian pavilion is like a university research institute, and the scientists' work place is also semi-openly displayed. The display board tells the story of the golden frog's endangerment due to fungal infection (friendly reminder: this story is included in my translation of "I Encompass Everything"!).

Panama Golden Frog | Plum

Free Space for Orangutans – “Think Tank”

Of course, I would like to give the Best of Show Award to the Think Tank. This is not a pavilion themed on a certain animal or ecology, but on the intelligence and behavior of animals. This pavilion is connected to the Orangutan Pavilion by several high towers and cables, and the orangutans can swing from the Orangutan Pavilion to the Think Tank.

The tower and the ropes connect the think tank and the orangutan house. This is the orangutan’s exclusive path | Li Zi

If you’re lucky, you might spot an orangutan passing overhead | Jarek Tuszyński / Wikimedia Commons

There are many interesting things in the think tank. One of the devices is a water valve connected to the outside of the exhibition hall. Visitors can stand under the water valve, and the orangutans behind can control the water valve themselves to interact with visitors. Indoors, the orangutans can sit in front of the screen and control several cameras connected to the nests of other orangutans. They can choose what they want to see. In other words, the orangutans here have a certain "autonomy". The researchers want to know how animals with high-level intelligence make decisions, or a more philosophical discussion - do animals have "free will"? This question is also thrown to tourists by the "think tank" for them to think about.

Interactive installation at the think tank | Lizi

Unfortunately, on the day I visited, I didn’t see the orangutans outside, teasing visitors, or swinging on cables above our heads from the orangutan house to the “think tank” (probably because the weather was too cold). Inside the think tank, two orangutans were sleeping in and eating.

A female orangutan I met face to face | Plum

However, in addition to orangutans, there are other animals in the think tank, such as red-tailed monkeys, Norway rats and hermit crabs. There are also static exhibitions that explore the brains, behaviors and intelligence of animals. Visitors who are interested in this area can learn a lot in this pioneering exhibition hall, which is probably unique in the world. And those who like science fiction can probably make up a story that "One day, the orangutans in the Smithsonian finally started to rebel"...

Exhibition at the Think Tank | | Smithsonian's National Zoo

In short, the Smithsonian National Zoo is probably the best free zoo on earth - there is probably no dispute about this. But the most important thing is that it is a zoo where adults and children can have fun, learn knowledge, and think. It is also a zoo that makes museum lovers like me ecstatic. Students in North America must visit it if they have the opportunity. As for students in DC, all I can express is pure envy and jealousy.

Author: Li Zi

Editor: White stork on the shore

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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