Over the next four shows-which we're airing back-to-back because it's almost the end of 2024, so we thought we'd do one last miniseries to wrap up the year-we'll travel all over to see how the science of caring for and protecting animals is changing.

We'll see how artificial intelligence is shifting the conversation around conservation.

We'll meet members of the new generation of conservation scientists who are changing the way the work gets done-and who does it.

And we'll even get to hear a few successful comeback stories.

Our guide for this adventure is Ashleigh Papp, an animal scientist turned storyteller.

In today's episode she's going to take us to a place that might feel familiar to a lot of us: the zoo.

But these days a good zoo isn't just a menagerie; it's also a conservation powerhouse.

Here's Ashleigh to tell us more.

As a kid, seeing wild, exotic animals at the local zoo was one of my favorite things-like, ever-so much so that I pursued a higher degree in animal science, which led me to, one summer many years ago, intern at the local zoo.

A zoo internship is hands-on, roll up your sleeves and get dirty work.