Changes

The oldest known zoo today is the Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, which was once a royal lion park. However, it was made a public park and zoo by emperor Francis I. This public park and zoo became popular and soon other locations in Europe gained interest in having their own public zoos. Madrid and Paris soon followed in the late 18th century, while a zoo in Russia was founded in 1806 to scientifically study animals. By the early 19th century, the concept of public display, to satisfy public interest, and scientific study had emerged as being central concepts in zoos. <ref>For more on the history of Tiergarten, see: Hosey, G.R., Melfi, V. & Pankhurst, S. (2009) <i>Zoo animals: behaviour, management, and welfare.</i> Oxford ; New York, Oxford University Press, pg. 20.</ref>

The London Zoo in Regent's Park, founded in 1828, began to become the symbol of what a modern zoo should look like. It was the first zoo dedicated to the public and science, which made it different than the earlier zoos that often separated these ideas of public display and scientific research. The design of the zoo also revolved around large crowds viewing animals, thus wide walking areas and larger cages were created so that more people can see the animals. In effect, it was the first zoo to be purposely designed for the wider public. The first public glass house and apiary for birds were also opened at the zoo.<ref>For more on the London Zoo, see: Ito, T. (2014)<i> London Zoo and the Victorians, 1828-1859</i>. Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series</ref>

Soon, in Dublin in 1831, people began to realize the medical benefits of studying animals. Thus, zoos were also transformed into medical research areas, although in most cases this often was on animals that were already dead rather than harvesting animals. The next major development for zoos was essentially a reinvention of what the Assyrians had developed. That is, a zoo with open areas and areas that resembled the animals' natural habitats. This was first done in Hamburg in 1907 by Carl Hagenbeck, who designed this concept. In the 1930s, the concept of a safari park zoo had emerged. This led to the development of Whipsnade Zoo, which allowed visitors to come close to the animals as they went through a safari-like natural setting. <ref>For more on the advancement of zoos in the 19th and early 20th centuries, see: Vernon N. Kisling (ed.) (2001) <i>Zoo and aquarium history: ancient animal collections to zoological gardens</i>. Boca Raton, Fla, CRC Press.</ref>

While zoos increasingly tried to recreate natural habitats for the pleasure of the public, relatively little focus was put on animal welfare. This changed by the 1970s, when conservation movements gained increasing momentum. There was greater public pressure for zoos to reform to focus more on conservation efforts. Many zoos after that time began to repackage themselves as conservation focused rather than as simply displaying exotic animals. This was the case in Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. While the zoo was initially opened in the 1930s as a more typical city zoo, it began to refocus its efforts towards conservation. It build the first dolphin house in the 1960s and by the 1970s and 1980s, work was also done in countries where animals came from by zoo staff to help conserve natural habitats. Increasingly, zoos were being refocused to educate the public about habitat loss. This put increasing pressure for zoos to change their displays to more natural settings that attempted to recreate natural habitats for animals. Scientific study and university research increasingly became integrated with zoos during this period.<ref>For more on the modern history of zoos and conservation, see: Bryan G Norton, Michael Hutchings, Elizabeth F Stevens, Terry L Maple, et al. (eds.) (2010) <i>Ethics on the ark: zoos, animal welfare, and wildlife conservation. Smithsonian Books; New edition editio. Washington.</i></ref>