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Bozie and Swarna are elephants at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Gabriel Emanuel / Gabriel Emanuel
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Gabriel Emanuel / Gabriel Emanuel
Bozie and Swarna are elephants at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Gabriel Emanuel / Gabriel Emanuel
Note: This episode originally aired on September 2014.
Zoos follow a cardinal rule: You can’t buy or sell animals. Putting a price on an elephant’s head is unethical and illegal. But money does have its uses – it lets you know who wants something, and how badly they want it. It lets you get rid of things you don’t need and acquire things you do need. It helps allocate assets to where they are most valuable. In this case, those assets are living creatures, who need a safe home with the right climate.
So zoos and aquariums are asking: What do you do in a world where money doesn’t work?
This episode was originally produced by Jess Jiang.
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music: “Garage Soul“”doom,” and”Reliving the Renaissance“”.
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