1986 Abstract:
Nineteenth century zoos, aquariums and natural history museums had much in common. All were organized taxonomically, housed in imposing buildings and ignorant of ecological principles. Though these institutions have evolved enormously and often independently in the last century, recent exhibits in zoos, aquariums and museums show major parallels indicating a kind of unconscious co-evolution. This paper traces several major areas of similar development, illustrating historic and contemporary examples, considers the evolutionary advantage of these adaptations and offers some conjecture on where this convergence may lead.