<P> Many modern zoos attempt to improve animal welfare by providing more space and behavioural enrichments . This often involves housing the animals in naturalistic enclosures that allow the animals to express some of their natural behaviours, such as roaming and foraging . However, many animals remain in barren concrete enclosures or other minimally enriched cages . </P> <P> Animals which naturally range over many km each day, or make seasonal migrations, are unable to perform these behaviors in zoo enclosures . For example, elephants usually travel approximately 45 km (28 mi) each day . </P> <P> Animals in zoos often exhibit behaviors that are abnormal in their frequency, intensity, or would not normally be part of their behavioural repertoire . These are usually indicative of stress . For example, elephants sometimes perform head - bobbing, bears sometimes pace repeatedly around the limits of their enclosure, wild cats sometimes groom themselves obsessively, and birds pluck out their own feathers . Some critics of zoos claim that the animals are always under physical and mental stress, regardless of the quality of care towards the animals . Elephants have been recorded displaying stereotypical behaviours in the form of swaying back and forth, trunk swaying or route tracing . This has been observed in 54% of individuals in UK zoos . </P> <P> Elephants in Japanese zoos have shorter lifespans than their wild counterparts at only 17 years, although other studies suggest that zoo elephants live as long as those in the wild . On the other hand, many other animals, such as reptiles, can live much longer than they would in the wild . </P>

What's the difference between a zoo and a wildlife park