Santa Rosa’s Safari West is hailing this year’s birth of a southern white rhino as helping restore the global population, and the California Academy of Sciences’ new African-penguin chicks are part of a species-survival plan. At the Oakland Zoo, they’re stabilizing a historic Blackfeet Nation bison herd by bringing Montana bison in for breeding with Yellowstone ones, then sending the mamas and babies back to the Blackfeet. But while it’s not practical to look at the San Francisco Bay Area’s historic zoos for best practices, it sure is fascinating. The zoological gardens of the day were half-amusement parks, half-vanity projects for the rich and powerful. They provided entertainment for families who might’ve never otherwise seen an Asian elephant – in Golden Gate Park, no less.