Driving past the Southern Nevada Zoological and Botanical Park at 1775 N. Rancho Drive likely will not give you a good idea of what's going on at the zoo or how significant and unique the facility is.

Even if you drop by, pay the $7 admission -- $5 for children -- and spend an afternoon roaming the facility's 3 acres, you'll probably be impressed with how close you can get to a pair of African lions, or how fun it is to interact with Terry, a chimpanzee. But perhaps you might not get an understanding of how important the zoo is, the success it has had, or what it could become.