A cardiologist visited the zoo and wondered if the animals got the same diseases that her human patients do. She did some research and found out that they do get many of the same diseases — including obesity and diabetes.

The cardiologist wrote a book about her findings, and that book was excerpted in the New York Times on Sunday.

The reason you should know about this article and this book is because throughout, the cardiologist refers to the zoo animals as wild animals. You should also know about it because she tries to relate animals fattening up before hibernation or migration and the occasional natural abundance of some preferred foods to human eating patterns.

I’m not sure if these analogies will be helpful for human health, but they are certainly not adding anything to the understanding of wildlife conservation and management.

Read the complete opinion piece here.