There are two different perspectives as to whether aquariums and zoos are actually helpful to animals' lives.
Starting with the reading passage, the writer mentions that living in few-inch-cube cells results in traumatic experiences that animals will suffer , since evidently social animals such as chimps and orangutans prefer to interact with one another rather than to be left behind in isolation . The same goes with dolphin whales and sea lions who have to spend their entire lives being stuck in man-made pools. In addition, having animals live in artificial environments far away from their native ones has an adverse effect in nurturing wild animals. The writer takes elephants and polar bears for example. Elephants are used to the humid, hot climate of Savannah whereas polar bears thrive in extremely harsh climate of polar regions.
In the lecture, on the other hand, the speaker does not agree with the opinion presented above. He gives several reasons for his support of zoos and aquariums. Firstly, wildlife is where infamous 'The Law Of Jungle' exists. They have to struggle for prey and to protect themselves from unexpected predators and disasters at the same time. So, it is better for animals to live in zoos and aquariums which provides shelter and food. Secondly, some animals are fiercely anti-social contrary to our popular belief. This is the case with monkeys that hunt alone and with the pandas who prefers to live in isolation. Also, it is known that killer dolphins leave their habitat to hunt alone in the South Pacific.
Lastly, as for elephants, their alleged habitat of Savannah are actually inappropriate for them to live in this is because they were forced to live there with the advent of Ice Age a long time ago.
Thus, the writer strongly suggests that animals live in protection centers such as zoos and aquariums with special care.
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