The only creature on earth whose natural habitat is a zoo is the zookeeper.

Robert Brault is an American aphorist known primarily for succinct, contemporary observations circulated through quotation collections and online venues rather than through a single canonical volume. This line reflects a late-20th-/early-21st-century sensibility about captivity, “natural habitats,” and the ethics of displaying wild animals for human education or entertainment. Framed as a wry reversal, it imagines the zoo not as an animal’s proper environment but as a human-made institution that only humans truly belong to—specifically the staff who choose to work there. The remark is typically encountered as a standalone aphorism rather than as part of a longer essay or speech.

The aphorism pivots on the phrase “natural habitat,” usually invoked to justify conservation or to criticize captivity. By claiming that only the zookeeper has a “natural habitat” in a zoo, Brault underscores the artificiality of zoos for animals and highlights the asymmetry of power: the zoo is a human-designed space that animals inhabit by coercion, while humans enter it by choice. The humor carries an ethical sting, inviting readers to reconsider what it means to care for animals in confinement and whether institutional “stewardship” can substitute for freedom. It also suggests that the zoo ultimately reflects human needs—control, curiosity, and order—more than animal flourishing.