What A Bunch Of Animals

I’m on a panel of scientists giving a guest talk to a middle school. One of my colleagues is a zoologist. After introducing him, the teacher poses this question.

Teacher: “[Colleague] is a zoologist. Does anyone know what that means?”

Student #1: “Does he own a zoo?”

Colleague: “Not quite! You’re on the right track, though. Do you know what it means if we put ‘zoo’ in front of a word? What do you find in zoos?”

Student #1: “Peacocks?”

Colleague: “That’s a good example, but think more broadly! What do all zoos have that makes them zoos?”

Student #2: “Um… visitors who want to see the zoo?”