Teaching from TV
In the late 1950s, Brookfield Zoo dabbled briefly in educational broadcasting. In April 1958, television producer and writer Mary Lela Grimes began hosting Discovery at the Brookfield Zoo, which ran on WTTW-Channel 11. Portions of each half-hour show were filmed beforehand at the zoo, and the rest was broadcast live from a studio set, sometimes with animals from the zoo as accompaniment.
 
Each week, Grimes linked zoo animals to a scientific concept. During the show’s 13 weeks of telecasts, she held forth on evolution, scientific names, ecology, and animal distribution, as well as broad animal groups such as primates, carnivores, and flightless birds.
 
“A visit to the zoo opens the door to a world of geographic exploration and adventure into the history of life,” Grimes once said about the philosophy behind the show. For those 13 weeks in 1958, the zoo’s growing comfort with teaching the public about the natural world was perfectly paired with Grimes’ ability as a writer, producer, narrator, and educator.

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