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Zoos lack funds to inspire Obama's future scientists

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-04 11:43

NEW YORK -- Science class for a group of 12-year-old New Yorkers frequently means a day at the zoo, petting a monitor lizard, laughing at infant gorillas as they wrestle or seeing how a giant rock python hunts in the dark.

Bronx Zoo educator Chris McKay holds a monitor lizard to show a class of local 12-year-old New Yorkers participating in a regular class under a partnership between the New York City School system and the Zoo in this picture taken January 28, 2009. Newly inaugurated US President Obama has pledged to 'restore science to its rightful place' and educate a new generation of scientists able to transform America into an environmentally sustainable 'green economy'. But with endowments and private donations falling and public funds under pressure, the recession is making it harder for zoos and aquariums to keep inspiring kids in science.[Agencies]

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"I love animals and it's fun," said Marquis Palmer, 12.

"If nobody cared about animals they would all be dead. Plus, we wouldn't really have anything to eat," he said, with a mischievous grin, explaining why he loves science during a recent scavenger hunt at the Bronx Zoo's Congo exhibit.

A new report by the National Academy of Sciences said informal learning -- such as at zoos or just while fishing or gardening -- is a powerful tool in science education.

Newly inaugurated US President Barack Obama has pledged to "restore science to its rightful place" and educate a new generation of scientists able to transform America into an environmentally sustainable "green economy."

But with endowments and private donations falling and public funds under pressure, the recession is making it harder for zoos and aquariums to keep inspiring kids in science.

Palmer was among a dozen children from the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation, located in a struggling area of the New York borough of the Bronx, who crowded up against a glass partition to watch a pair of young gorillas during a visit last month to the Bronx Zoo.

One girl imitated a gorilla, others tapped on the glass, others called: "Can I take one home?" or "Fight, fight."

Later they returned to a classroom at the zoo to discuss their science project to design an exhibit for a zoo animal.

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