Stephen Colbert And Journalist Thomas French: 'Zoo Story' (VIDEO)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas French sat down with Stephen Colbert last night to discuss his new book, "Zoo Story: Life In The Garden Of Captives."

"I'm trying to recreate your habitat here," Colbert said, "And I know you work at a newspaper so I fired almost my entire staff today."

"Journalists are an endangered species," French agreed.

"Yes," said Colbert. "Is there a breeding program for them?"

The book details Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, and the six years French spent reporting and researching there while at the St. Petersburg Times.

During this period, French said, the zoo ambitiously tried to go from being a "mid-size, respected zoo" to "a big-city zoo."

"The centerpiece of that was they brought in wild elephants from Africa. So the book opens with a scene where you have eleven wild elephants in crates who've been taken from Swaziland," French said. "They're flying across the Atlantic in one 747."

An interesting wrinkle in French's book is that at the heart of every zoo is human ego.

"This idea that our species has the right to gather other species from around the world and hold them in this place says a lot about our assumptions of human supremacy."

French related another story in which the zoo tried to begin an installation with Patas Monkeys.

"They brought them in, installed them on this monkey island, and they promptly swam away. There was some debate about whether the monkeys could swim."

"Well, who won that debate?" replied Colbert.

WATCH:

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Comments

[CaptainSunshine]

03:13 PM on 08/19/2010

Great segment. I want to read this book.

[roger37]

02:26 PM on 08/19/2010

As usual, you couldn't get a very good idea of some of the ideas in this book because Stephen Colbert was too busy doing his shtick. I came back to watch the Colbert show after turning it off for a long time, and now I remember why I quit watching it.

Nothing, but nothing, stops Stephen from doing his act. Yes, yes, he's satirizing O'Reilly, but his own ego puts him 'way over the top. It gets a little boring and predictable after a while, no matter how good his writers are.

[OldTart]

11:01 AM on 08/23/2010

Sadly, I must agree. I adore Stephen but there is really no point in having extraordinary guests if we don't get a real sampling of what is their forte or work, especially when it comes to topics such as this. Increasingly, I skip his "interviews." Jon Stewart does a much better job. Sometimes Stephen's caricature gets in the way of his intentions, I fear.

[Tom Kulenski]

02:25 PM on 08/19/2010

I just love the Monkey Island reference. I mean, how cool is that. :P

[BobSacomano]

01:42 PM on 08/19/2010

Pretty sad when 'rescue' means living in a cage.

[Kevin Atlanta]

01:26 PM on 08/19/2010

Lowery Park has done a responsible job but this is a must read for me.

[mamababa]

01:47 PM on 08/19/2010

In other words - 'I like it, therefore they're doing a 'responsible' job.'

[Kevin Atlanta]

02:37 PM on 08/19/2010

A "responsible" job is working to build habitat that is close to wild, they do as much to be humane and informed keepers.
I do have some issues with captive animals, especially cetatea, but Lowery demonstrates a real sensitivity, does great with Manatee recovery, the Aviary is wonderful.
I haven't been to the park in years (3 now) but knowing some of the Keepers and staff provides me with knowledge of their strong commitment to conservation.

[StopMakingSense2]

01:18 PM on 08/19/2010

Sadly zoos are becoming the last place they can exist..