Chapter 1 provides context for the central themes of the book, highlighting the challenges and importance of the collective conservation education mission shared by accredited zoos worldwide and situating the zoo as a unique setting for learning and potential vector of social change. We also outline the rationale for our endeavor to reconcile recent findings from various domains of social science research with zoos’ conservation mission in the context of their value to the diverse public audiences and communities they serve, pointing to opportunities for the development of new questions, approaches, and measurements of mission success that might help zoos better leverage their human and facility capacities to achieve mission-related outcomes that are valued by the public.