My Outside Magic
When I first thought about what I was going to do for my "outside magic," I assumed it had to involve being somewhere completely natural, like hiking or being in a remote place. However, my experience at the Fort Worth Zoo made me rethink that idea. Even though the zoo is a curated and controlled environment, I still found myself connecting with nature in a way I did not expect. The Fort Worth Zoo, which first opened in 1909, has become one of the top-ranked zoos in the country and focuses heavily on conservation and species protection. Many of the animals there like the western lowland gorilla, are critically endangered and part of breeding and conservation programs. While the habitats are designed by humans, they are meant to reflect natural environments like lowland forests in western equatorial Africa. Knowing this made me more aware that even though the setting is manmade, the animals themselves and their behaviors still reflect what they would do in the wild as closely...