Could Art and Close Encounters Motivate Conservation?

Zoologist and wildlife veterinarian Lucy Spelman has spent her career working with endangered animals. Part of that time, she was the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo, where her job included cleaning the teeth of tigers, for example. She’s the author of National Geographic’s new Animal Encyclopedia for Kids, and she advises that close encounters of different kinds—through art and zoos, in particular—are vital to conservation. (Segment produced by James Hoopes)