Cool off at the zoo this summer!

You don't have to leave your airconditioning to read about life at Lowry Park Zoo. Go to tampabay.com/nie/zoo and read about the elephants and tigers and frogs, oh my! Then tell us your comments on this blog.

Zoo Story Part 6: The Human Exhibit

Child magazine declared Lowry Park the best zoo for kids in the United States, rating it above the biggest institutions in the country, with the San Diego Zoo getting the No. 2 slot. In its article, the magazine salutes Lowry Park for its hands-on exhibits, its array of children's educational programs, its years of rehabilitating manatees and its commitment to safety.

But all this costs money. Chapter 6 explores some of the fundraising tactics the zoo uses to keep its doors open and its animals safe and happy. Do you think zoos should be financed with tax dollars or only through private funding? Or both? Explain your view on this topic.

Zoos and other cultural institutions are always looking for ways to raise money. Share your best idea for how Lowry Zoo could bring more dollars in to support their needs.

Zoo Story Part 5: Who do you relate to?

By now, you have read at least half of Zoo Story. Do you have a favorite character or one who you relate to the most? How are these animals like us? Click on COMMENTS to tell us which character (or characters) you relate to and why. What do you have in common?

Zoo Story Part 4: WILD

Chapter 4 of Zoo Story starts with this passage:

In the darkness beyond the edge of the sky, the satellite listens for manatee No. 9.

Five hundred miles above the planet's surface, the satellite is halfway through another orbit. From this vantage point, the Earth almost overwhelms the field of vision. A curving expanse of blue and green and brown, it appears vast enough for an endless multitude of life. And yet it's easy to make out the devastation pushing so many species toward extinction.

The melting of the polar ice caps. The fires consuming the Amazon rainforest. The toxic blossom of another Red Tide outbreak spreading off the west coast of Florida.

Year after year, a network of satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records the evidence of these and other catastrophes. The network gathers data on dozens of other missions for other researchers - taking infrared images of global cloud patterns, following the formation of thunderstorms and the path of hurricanes.

And tracking manatees.

On March 16, 2004, as it heads northward over the Caribbean toward the middle of the United States, one of those NOAA satellites - known simply as M - is among several receiving signals sent by transmitters fastened to the tails of dozens of manatees in the waters around Florida.

At 9:58 a.m., one of those signals reaches M from the St. Johns River, from the transmitter attached to manatee No. 9.

Better known, to hundreds of thousands of Floridians who grew up watching him, as Stormy.

Born and raised in captivity.

Recently released into the wild.

Polar bears are more likely than manatees to be thought of as victims of global warming, but one of the cases made by zoo supporters is that if there were not zoo-based breeding programs for endangered species, many of these rare creatures would be extinct.

Here in Florida, manatee protection is a hot topic. Governor Charlie Crist has been in the news lately with his request for the state's wildlife commissioners to keep manatees on the endangered list. Read the article here.

What are your thoughts on zoos and other wildlife support groups’ efforts to keep endangered species alive by breeding programs, rehabilitation and release, tracking via satellite or protective legislation by state and federal governments? Which programs do you agree or disagree with? Why?

Click on the COMMENTS button below to share your views. For more discussion on global warming and how it affects animal populations, click here to go to Hot Topics.

Zoo Story Part 3: IMPERFECT LOVE

Herman, king of the chimpanzees at Lowry Park Zoo, has not always lived among his own kind. When he was just a baby, Ed Schultz, an American working in Liberia at the time, found him on sale inside an orange crate and bought him for $25. Ed named the chimp Herman and took him home to his wife Elizabeth and their kids Roger and Sandy. They gave Herman milk from a bottle, taught him to wear a diaper and to eat his fruit at the dinner table. The family adored and pampered him, not having any idea all the ways their love would change him.

What are your thoughts on wild animals being kept as pets in people’s homes? What do you think Herman’s life would have been like if Ed Schultz had not purchased him? If a family you knew were considering bringing a wild animal into their home, what advice would you give them? Click on the COMMENTS blink below to share your views.

Zoo Story Part 2: ORPHANS

A central theme of Zoo Story is "the paradox of freedom." A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. For example, "I always lie" is a paradox because if it is true it must be false.

Zoo Story writer Thomas French says,

"On a good day, zoos remind us of the possibilities of existence, what it's like to walk across the earth, or swim in its oceans, or fly above its forests.

Even though the animals in front of you, the ones on display, will never have the chance to do any of those things again.

What do you think of this "paradox of freedom" French talks about? With your classmates, family or friends, make a two-column list of reasons why there should or should not be zoos. Share your list and views in the comments section below. (Keep your list and revisit it at the end of the Zoo Story series to see if your views have changed).

Zoo Story Part One: THE NEW WORLD

Many people opposed moving the elephants from the African game reserve to American zoos. Protesters insisted that for the elephants any fate would be preferable to a zoo. . . including death. Some say the elephants have been saved from certain death, others say they have been enslaved. What do you think?