--- title: Why zoos exist and what critics say — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Why zoos exist and what critics say», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Zoos began as collections for kings to show off their power: for about 600 years English kings kept lions, an elephant and even a pola --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Why zoos exist and what critics say # Why zoos exist and what critics say Lesson 115 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/0/) — Zoos began as collections for kings to show off their power: for about 600 years English kings kept lions, an elephant and even a polar bear at the Tower of London, in small cages with poor care. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/1/) — Today good zoos say they are for four things: saving species, teaching people, doing research and helping people love animals, and the Arabian oryx, the condor and Przewalski's horse are alive in the wild partly thanks to them. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/2/) — But some people think it is wrong to keep wild animals at all, even well cared for, because they lose their freedom and many are not endangered and will never go home. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/3/) — Both sides have real points, and a clever thinker can see each. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/4/) — You can judge a zoo yourself: is it accredited, do the animals have space and things to do, and does it say no to selfies with tiger cubs and to visitors tapping on the glass? - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/5/) — Modern zoos say they exist for conservation, education, research and helping people love animals; the oldest zoo still open is Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, opened in 1752. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/6/) — For about 600 years English kings kept lions, a polar bear and an elephant at the Tower of London; the polar bear was allowed to fish in the River Thames on a long chain. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/7/) — In the past many zoos kept animals in small, bare concrete cages, but science has shown that animals need space, choice and things to do. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/8/) — Some people think keeping wild animals in captivity is wrong even with good care, and some want zoos turned into sanctuaries that only rescue animals. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/10/) — Many zoos have stopped keeping elephants, orcas and polar bears if they cannot give them enough space, because these animals often suffered in small spaces (a wild orca swims huge distances in the open ocean); SeaWorld stopped breeding orcas in 2016. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/11/) — Good zoos are accredited by associations such as the AZA in America, BIAZA in Britain and Ireland, EAZA in Europe and the ZAA in Australia, which check care, safety and conservation; many roadside zoos are not. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/12/) — Paying to hold a tiger cub for a selfie often harms it: cubs are taken from their mothers early, bred for money and kept badly when they grow up, and good zoos never allow it. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/13/) — Studies suggest many visitors learn something about animals at zoos, though not all, and critics answer that people can learn from nature films too. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/14/) — Zoo research on health, behaviour and breeding can help wild animals; blood tests on zoo elephants helped scientists understand a deadly elephant virus. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/15/) — In the cartoon Madagascar the zoo animals escape and find the wild scary and hard, which echoes a real problem: zoo-born animals often cannot survive in the wild. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/115-why-zoos-exist-and-what-critics-say/16/) — Tapping on glass, shouting and flash photos frighten animals, which cannot leave as easily as visitors can. - ← previous: [Back to the wild: animals that zoos returned to nature](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/114-back-to-the-wild/) - next →: [Famous zoos in the USA and the UK](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/116-famous-zoos-in-the-usa-and-the-uk/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)