Blood-thirsty Romans, frozen carcasses, wild jaguars, and a question: how do you build a better cage?

In a cruel trick of evolution, humans can stand just three feet from a ferocious animal and still be perfectly safe. This hour, Radiolab goes to the zoo.

What's with our need to get close to "wildness"? We examine where we stand in this paradox--starting with the Romans, and ending in the wilds of Belize, staring into the eyes of a wild jaguar.

***Inside Out Cage

***Dead or Alive

***Wild Eyes

[June 3, 2007]