Provides a behind-the-scenes look at zoo animals and describes how zookeepers care for, train, and interact with the animals who live there.--

Based on 15 years of work at the world-famous San Diego Zoo, this charming book is an eminent zoo veterinarians personal account of the challenges, hazards, and rewards of running a modern zoo.

America's sweetheart, impassioned lifelong animal welfare advocate, and New York Times bestselling author Betty White shares intimate, funny, and enlightening stories about her very best friends in the world… All her life, Betty White has had a menagerie of pets, many of them rescued, and has donated countless hours and resources to animal welfare. Animals are her passion, and that passion extends to zoos and their importance for the conservation of species and for offering humans the ability to witness the grandeur and variety of these magnificent animals from around the world. Betty & Friends is a love letter to those zoos, to their dedicated workers, and especially to the animals in them—from Gita the elephant, whom Betty used to take for walks; to Bruno the orangutan, who flaunts his affections for Betty; to Jacob the boa, who loves a good hug. Gaining access to this majestic world through Betty’s eyes and her inimitable words is a beautiful thing indeed for animal lovers and Betty White lovers of all ages. INCLUDES GORGEOUS FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS

"This story, told by a master teller of such things, does more than take you inside the cages, fences, and walls of a zoo. It takes you inside the human heart, and an elephant's, and a primate's, and on and on. Tom French did in this book what he always does. He took real life and wrote it down for us, with eloquence and feeling and aching detail." -Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author "An insightful and detailed look at the complex life of a zoo and its denizens, both animal and human." -Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi and Beatrice and Virgil Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco. The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison. Zoo Story shows us how these remarkable individuals live, how some die, and what their experiences reveal about the human desire to both exalt and control nature.

Pursuing your passion includes a whole lot of crap. For Bud DeYoung, that’s about two hundred pounds a day! Since childhood, Bud had a passion for animals. As an adult, that passion led to the rescue of a bear who lived in his family’s house, then more animals crowding for space, until Bud eventually built an entire private zoo around his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Along the way, a regular visitor named Carrie joined her passion for animals with Bud’s. Together they now educate the public about animal conservation, battle the harsh winters and blazing summers, and daily dole out love to the hundreds of rescued animals in their care. Meanwhile, they teach by example how to make the world a better place while pursuing their passion. Welcome to the fascinating, heartwarming journey of one man, one woman, and an amazing cast of critters, whose stories will warm your soul. Welcome to the wild life of the DeYoung Family Zoo.

Follows the life of Colo, the first gorilla born in captivity, from her birth at the Columbus Zoo to her development into an adult, her progeny, and her distinction as the oldest living gorilla in the world.