There are certain things that you can always expect to see in Oklahoma's landscape.

Oil wells, cotton fields, red dirt, cowboys and big trucks, and chicken-fried steaks.

But in the state's capital, you'll find some exotic creatures that are a bit out of place.

We've got most of what you might consider the marquee animals, elephants, tigers, lions,

grizzly bears, you know, reptile house. Dwight Lawson is the executive director and CEO of the

Oklahoma City Zoo. It's home to a thousand animals of more than 300 different

species.

In the course of a day, you can see Indian rhinos,

Camodo Dragons, Red Pandas, Western Lolan Guerrillas,

Sumatra Norengatangs,

Andean Condors, and ring-tailed lemurs.

You'll even encounter a few endangered species.

We have a venomous beaded lizard from Guatemala that's only in a handful of zoos across the country,

as well as a couple of what are called plowshare tortoises, probably the most endangered

tortoise on the planet that only come from a small area of Madagascar.

You know, lions spend about 20 hours a day sleeping so you have to give other stuff for

folks to see.

Oklahoma City Zoo is one of a few hundred accredited zoos and aquariums across the country.

They attract visitors by stocking their exhibits with exciting creatures from the far reaches of the globe. But how exactly do they get them?

It's very hard to put a fair market value on an endangered species.

For the Freakinomics Radio Network, this is the economics of everyday things.

I'm Zachary Krakett.

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