The Zoo is a docu-series set at the Bronx Zoo on Animal Planet. It premiered on February 18, 2017 and is currently on its fifth season.
Not to be confused with Zoo.
The show provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: While often the segments and stories will end positively, on occasion the ending is bittersweet.
- This Is Reality: The downsides and reality of getting an exotic pet are shown often, with the Zoo getting animals from the pet trade where demand for exotic animals leads to smuggling the animals in absolutely horrible conditions. In one episode, more than 2/3 of about 100 rare lizards from a seized shipment died despite getting the best care the zoo had to offer because of the extreme conditions they had endured.
- Downer Ending: Sometimes the animals don't recover from the ailments shown in episode.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Marmosets, squirrel monkeys, penguins, fennec foxes, ducklings, snow leopard cubs, New England cottontail bunnies, otters, red pandas, kiwis, and more have all featured.
- Transatlantic Equivalent: The British series The Secret Life of the Zoo is also a docu-series filmed at a zoo, in this case Chester Zoo in England.
