"Ten tygrys jest smutny, bo żyje w zoo."
Translation:This tiger is sad, because it lives in the zoo.
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I would say it's something like this:
Mieszkam w tym domu. = I live (reside; my home is) in this house.
Tygrys żyje w zoo. = The tiger lives [out its days] in the zoo.
Mieszkać I believe always refers to having a home, whereas żyć can mean what it does in this example, or it can mean 'to be alive'.
(In Finnish we have two separate verbs for 'live', just like Polish does; English can use the same verb for both, which makes it tricky.)
The sentence "Ten tygrys jest smutny, bo żyje w zoo" is too literal translation from English (a copy). Since "żyje" means "it is alive", the sentence implies that this tiger
would be happy if it was dead in the zoo. This really does not sound right in Polish.
This zoo director (a person) lives in the city - Ten dyrektor zoo mieszka w mieście
The veterinarian (a person) lives close to the zoo - Weterynarz mieszka blisko zoo
The tiger (an animal) lives/is in the zoo - Tygrys jest/przebywa/znajduje się w zoo
Ten tygrys jest smutny, bo jest w zoo - That tiger is sad because it lives in the zoo
"jest/przebywa/znajduje się" all mean just "is", therefore they would all work if the sentence was about my brother who went to a zoo for the afternoon. So no, they don't mean "lives".
"żyją" is also used for living in a place, although not that commonly and it's generally a risky choice with people. However I'd still use it here over "mieszkają", which would sound to me as if they literally had their houses there...
Just compare "zwierzęta, które żyją na wolności" and the rather absurd "zwierzęta, które mieszkają na wolności".
It is not necessary to use "it" lives in a zoo. It is understood that who lives in a zoo is the tiger