Zoos, for the most part, are conservation programs. It is not just the animals, plants, and such you see behind glass that are in some cases the last of their species kept alive by people with the passion to do so, but also the wealth of data and samples and collections that are used for research and medicine.

In a world where climate change is going to render large parts of the world uninhabitable as we know it, these will be some of the only places left on earth that have any forms of biodiversity.