The gap in technology for visitor experience in a zoo: A case study in Indonesia

Technology has routinely been used in zoos to enhance the visitor experience, for public education and for conservation awareness. However, studies into technology-aided exhibits in zoos have thus far been limited to zoos in western society. This article reports on an Indonesian zoo deploying new technology in its exhibits and how visitors interacted with these exhibits. A case study guided both an investigation of the visitors' technology usage of zoo exhibits and zoo implementation of technological processes. Interviews with visitors, zoo staff, and managers were conducted and analyzed and these were supplemented with on-site observations. The results indicated that the majority of zoo visitors did not use the technological applications provided by the zoo. In addition, there was found to be a significant lack of staff engagement in the consultation, design, implementation, and maintenance of the technology. Correlations were found between visitors' level of technology usage, their reading of signage, their day-to-day technology usage, and their conservation knowledge. The findings suggest that an understanding of visitor' behavior, active staff engagement in the development and implementation of new technology, in addition to emotion-inducing interpretation, and purposefully guided interactions, could increase the use of technology at a zoo and thus enhance positive visitor engagement, ultimately resulting in heightened educational as well as conservational outcomes.     

Ethics and animal welfare evaluations in South East Asian zoos: a case study of Thailand

Concern for zoo animals is palpable throughout society in many countries in South East Asia. It is important to understand problems of animal welfare in order for zoos to make significant improvement in maintaining high standards. With a case study of 3 zoos in Thailand, this article presents results for the first time on how ethics and welfare evaluations are conducted in South East Asian zoos. The study identified several major and minor welfare problems and provided constructive suggestions to zoo authorities, which in turn significantly improved the standards of animal welfare. Thus, the data presented in this article could serve as a model for other zoos to follow animal welfare evaluations locally, regionally, and globally.     

Post-occupancy evaluation in the zoo

Post-occupancy evaluations (POE) of the built environment provide systematic information about the success or failure of environmental designs. Research instruments developed for application in human settings can also be adapted for use in zoos. The zoo environment must be evaluated for its impact on animal residents, zoo visitors and staff. Evaluations conducted by our Atlanta research team included studies of the Atlanta Zoo and zoos in nearby cities. The range of available methodologies are reviewed, and the unique constraints of zoo settings are discussed. Our studies indicate that naturalistic environments facilitate the expression of normal and complex animal behavior patterns and tend to enhance the visitor experience. POE represents an exciting new dimension in zoo research and promises to contribute to the success of future generations of zoo design.     

Zoos through the Lens of the IUCN Red List: A Global Metapopulation Approach to Support Conservation Breeding Programs

Given current extinction trends, the number of species requiring conservation breeding programs (CBPs) is likely to increase dramatically. To inform CBP policies for threatened terrestrial vertebrates, we evaluated the number and representation of threatened vertebrate species on the IUCN Red List held in the ISIS zoo network and estimated the complexity of their management as metapopulations. Our results show that 695 of the 3,955 (23%) terrestrial vertebrate species in ISIS zoos are threatened. Only two of the 59 taxonomic orders show a higher proportion of threatened species in ISIS zoos than would be expected if species were selected at random. In addition, for most taxa, the management of a zoo metapopulation of more than 250 individuals will require the coordination of a cluster of 11 to 24 ISIS zoos within a radius of 2,000 km. Thus, in the zoo network, the representation of species that may require CBPs is currently low and the spatial distribution of these zoo populations makes management difficult. Although the zoo community may have the will and the logistical potential to contribute to conservation actions, including CBPs, to do so will require greater collaboration between zoos and other institutions, alongside the development of international agreements that facilitate cross-border movement of zoo animals. To maximize the effectiveness of integrated conservation actions that include CBPs, it is fundamental that the non-zoo conservation community acknowledges and integrates the expertise and facilities of zoos where it can be helpful.     

Listening after the animals: sound and pastoral care in the zoo

In anthropology and across the humanities and social sciences, zoos have tended to be theorized as places of spectacle. Scholars often focus on the ways in which these institutions enable the viewing of other-than-human animals by human publics. This article, however, uses sound-focused ethnographic fieldwork to engage with two UK zoos and to describe a particular mode of cross-species listening which is enacted by zookeepers. The concepts of pastoral care and control discussed by Foucault and applied to the zoo context by Braverman are productively reworked and reorientated in order to understand this form of listening. The article also demonstrates the interconnectedness of keeper, visitor, and animal sound worlds, in the process generating an original perspective that complements and enriches conventional zoo studies.     

Zoo animals as “proxy species” for threatened sister taxa: Defining a novel form of species surrogacy

The vast number of species threatened with extinction, coupled with the limited resources to support them, results in the need to prioritize species for conservation action. Similarly, zoo collection managers must prioritize species for inclusion at their institutions, which are also limited by space and resources. While conservation status is one factor considered by zoos, weight is also given to qualitative features and practical considerations when evaluating the fit of different species. Resultantly, the species prioritized by zoos have limited overlap with those prioritized for conservation. Several recent studies have highlighted that the majority of species maintained in zoos are ranked globally as least concern. Given the centrality of conservation to the modern mission of zoos, there is value in identifying clear connections between non‐threatened species in zoos and the roles they can play in conservation. Surrogate species approaches have been used in many instances to facilitate indirect conservation, and several distinctive types of surrogacy have been formally described. The aim of this study is to define a novel form of species surrogacy (i.e., “proxy species”) that draws utility from non‐threatened species maintained in zoos. A proxy species is here defined as a non‐threatened species managed ex situ that can be used as a flagship for a related threatened species that is morphologically similar but not otherwise represented in zoos. The benefits of this approach and opportunities for its application are here reviewed. This concept will provide opportunities to enhance the value of pre‐existing zoo collections, and ultimately, support conservation objectives.     

Unraveling the Complexity of the Zoo Community: Identifying the Variables Related to Conservation Performance in Zoological Parks

Zoological parks make up a highly heterogeneous community. Ranging from small collections at shopping malls to highly developed bioparks, their contribution to conservation is expected to vary enormously. Although several studies have focused on assessing such contribution, the parameters used frequently do not apply when considering more modest zoos. The goals of this study are to determine, within the wide range of zoos, which type tend to fulfill the conservation mission of modern zoos and to identify the variables associated to their conservation performance. We used the requirements demanded by the European Community Zoos Directive 1999/22/EC, relating to the keeping of wild animals in zoological parks, to assess conservation performance in 72% of officially registered Spanish zoos. Sampled zoos were classified into groups according to their common characteristics, and then the variables related to how they met each of the Directive's requirements in the groups were assessed. We found that private zoological parks with large zoological collections, located within metropolitan areas, and members of a zoo association tended to fulfill the requirements. Being a member of a zoo association was the variable that better explained fulfillment of the requirements among the evaluated zoos. Data revealed that zoos not meeting any requirement were few, although those meeting all of them were not frequent. The requirement related to adequate record keeping showed the lowest level of fulfillment. We discuss the implications of our results and propose measures of change in order to promote the contribution of zoos to biodiversity conservation. Zoo Biol 31:55;–70, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exoticism as a Mediator of Everyday Experiences of Nature: an Anthropological Exploration of Soundscape in Zoos

The increasing levels of stress entailed by contemporary urban lifestyles can lead to a greater desire to escape from cities. The restorative sense of ‘being away’ produced by natural environments has been substantially explored in greenspaces but little studied in zoos, which endeavour to immerse visitors in a local or exotic environment through both the visual environment and soundscape. We explore how soundscapes contribute to this sense of immersion through self-reflective interviews with 20 participants in two zoos in Paris (France). The zoo was perceived as a natural or a socially crowded area depending on the auditory context. Interestingly, focusing on the captive exotic animals seemed to make participants more aware of the more common birds around them in the zoo. By highlighting both, zoos could potentially increase awareness and care for urban biodiversity.     

Visitors or Visits? An Examination of Zoo Visitor Numbers Using the Case Study of Australia

Usually cited in reference to the potential reach of zoo education, one of the popular figures for global zoo visitation is that 600 million people visit zoos annually. However, this number needs clarification on two fronts. First, there are many zoo visitors who are not included in the calculation because they visited a zoo that was not included in the count. Second, it does not take into consideration the people visit either the same or different zoos more than once annually. Using data collected from several sources, including zoo visitors themselves, this article focuses on one country—Australia—that contributes 15.6 million to the visitation total, and contends that the correct number of unique annual zoo visitors to Australian zoos is likely to be between 8 and 10 million. However, rather than suggesting an overemphasis on the potential of zoos for educating visitors, having regular repeat visitors represents a distinct advantage for zoos, allowing for progressive education opportunities. Zoo Biol. 32:37‐44, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Distressed animal behaviors and some recommendations for improvements at the Kuala Lumpur Zoo, Malaysia

The artificial living conditions of captive animals present numerous challenges for animal caretakers. In this study I explored abnormal behaviors in certain caged animals at the Kuala Lumpur Zoo. Findings obtained from observations of animals and interviews of the zoo staff are followed by recommendations: including the development of standards and manuals, licensing of zoos and animals, and increased budgets from governments or alternative sources. Such interventions should bring considerable improvements in animal welfare at the zoos in the region.     

Distressed Animal Behaviors and Some Recommendations for Improvements at the Kuala Lumpur Zoo,Malaysia

The artificial living conditions of captive animals present numerous challenges for animal caretakers. In this study I explored abnormal behaviors in certain caged animals at the Kuala Lumpur Zoo. Findings obtained from observations of animals and interviews of the zoo staff are followed by recommendations: including the development of standards and manuals, licensing of zoos and animals, and increased budgets from governments or alternative sources. Such interventions should bring considerable improvements in animal welfare at the zoos in the region.     

It's a sign: Animal welfare and zoo type are predictors of animal identification signage usage and quality at zoo exhibits

Conservation education programs are listed as priority actions for almost every threatened species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Zoos play an important role in delivering such programs, yet evidence of zoo education in many non-western countries is limited. Here, we evaluate animal identification signage prevalence and quality at zoo exhibits and investigate whether animal welfare, zoo type (accredited, government, and private), admission fee, zoo size, and proximity to urban centers are influencing factors. We used hornbills (Bucerotidae) as a model taxon, surveyed hornbill signage, and conducted welfare assessments of hornbill exhibits. We developed scoring frameworks and applied content analysis to analyze signage quality. Our results show that out of 18 zoos that displayed hornbills, 15 had hornbill signage. However, of the 106 hornbill exhibits in these zoos, 33% had no signage. We also found that signage presence or absence at individual zoos and signage quality is strongly correlated with animal welfare quality. Zoo type is a key factor in predicting signage and welfare quality, with accredited zoos scoring highest for both signage and welfare, followed by government and private zoos. Private zoos charged higher admission than other zoo types, and zoo size and proximity to urban centers did not influence signage or welfare scores. Overall, we conclude that in our study, signage usage and quality are inadequate, highlighting the importance of compliance with robust zoo standards to improve education and welfare within zoos to support global conservation goals.     

Conservation medicine and One Health in zoos: Scope,obstacles, and unrecognized potential

Zoo veterinarians and allied professionals have been contributing to conservation medicine (CM) and One Health (OH) activities for more than two decades. Although the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) considers conservation a key part of its mission, little published material exists about the extent of AZA work in CM/OH or the challenges and opportunities associated with these endeavors. To better understand the current scope of CM/OH in zoos, we surveyed 53 AZA‐accredited institutions from April through October of 2016. We obtained information on CM/OH infrastructure, support for expansion in this area, and strategies to overcome perceived obstacles hindering CM/OH from becoming a core AZA activity. Survey results revealed that while most zoos favor greater investment in CM/OH programs, awareness, and understanding of CM/OH across the broader zoo community and public is lacking. The majority of respondents stated that overcoming this challenge is paramount to attaining support for CM/OH initiatives. In spite of these obstacles, survey respondents highlighted many positive developments in CM/OH. We found that 84% of zoos surveyed are actively engaged in CM/OH activities, and 12% house formal CM/OH programs. Another 8% of respondents said their institutions were developing CM/OH programs. Perhaps most noteworthy, we found that zoo size did not have a significant bearing on the financial amount allocated toward an institution's CM/OH activities. This suggests that all zoos, regardless of size, can make meaningful contributions to the growing movement of CM/OH and help redefine the role of zoos within this movement.     

Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals

Environmental enrichment of captive mammals has been steadily evolving over the past thirty years. For this process to continue, it is first necessary to define current enrichment practices and then identify the factors that limit enhancing the quality and quantity of enrichment, as well as the evaluation of its effectiveness. With the objective of obtaining this information, an international multi‐institutional questionnaire survey was conducted with individuals working with zoo‐housed mammals. Results of the survey showed that regardless of how important different types of enrichment were perceived to be, if providing them was particularly time‐consuming, they were not made available to captive mammals as frequently as those requiring less staff time and effort. The groups of mammals provided with enrichment most frequently received it on average fewer than four times per day, resulting in less than two hours per day spent by each animal care staff member on tasks related to enrichment. The time required for staff to complete other husbandry tasks was the factor most limiting the implementation and evaluation of enrichment. The majority of survey respondents agreed that they would provide more enrichment and carry out more evaluation of enrichment if it was manageable to do so. The results of this study support the need for greater quantity, variety, frequency, and evaluation of enrichment provided to captive mammals housed in zoos without impinging on available staff time. Zoo Biol 29:303–316, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Visitor Perceptions of Nature Conservation at Helsinki Zoo

These days zoos often claim that their main objective is the promotion of nature conservation and that they strive to educate their visitors about animals and nature conservation. But how do zoo visitors themselves perceive this emphasis on conservation education? In order to determine how Helsinki Zoo visitors perceive nature conservation during their visit, we undertook a qualitative analysis of 75 structured situational interviews and five autoethnographical visits. Our results show that there was only a limited understanding of nature conservation among the zoo visitors. Their perception follows the typical framing of nature conservation in zoos: conservation projects that embrace captive breeding, in-situ conservation collaboration, and the reintroduction of those species. Moreover, in the Helsinki Zoo case these perceptions may have been influenced by the fact that the zoo did not give concrete advice on how the visitors themselves can contribute to conservation, except in terms of donating money. Framing nature conservation in such ways distances it from visitors’ everyday lives.     

Mission impossible or mission accomplished: Do zoo organizational missions influence conservation practices?

Conservation is an important organizational focus for zoos and aquariums. Organizational identity theory predicts a relationship between what is central to organizations, such as their mission statements, and their strategic activities. Based on this theory, we tested how organizational missions relate to their conservation strategies and practices. Tax forms and websites provided data from 173 zoos and 38 aquariums in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in North America. We analyzed conservation mission strength, organizational characteristics, and project features with dependent variables representing the depth of organizational conservation commitments: amount of grants zoos funded, number of partner organizations, and number of projects per zoo. On tax forms, the average amount of total conservation grants donated to partner organizations per zoo was over $650,000, while the average number of partners reported on the tax forms was two. The content analysis of websites revealed an average of 14 conservation partners and 10 projects per zoo. Negative binomial regression models were significant. The financial analysis revealed that only the number of zoo personnel, as a surrogate for organization size, significantly predicted the amount of zoos’ conservation grants. Website analyses found increasing budgets, organizational involvement, and geographic reach of the projects predicted increasing numbers of conservation projects and partnerships. However, our findings did not support the hypothesized relationship—strength of organizational mission did not predict strategy and activities. Zoos could do more to strategically activate their organizational identities and conservation missions to achieve their conservation goals.     

Zoo Animal Feeding: A Natural History Viewpoint

In order to formulate animal feeding programs, zoos traditionally borrow knowledge and techniques, developed for domesticated animals, from livestock industry. Although livestock industry provides some of the basic components of feeding it is aimed at economic gain from animals, and the number of species it covers is extremely small. Moreover, wild animals are forced to make considerable adjustments to captivity in all aspects of life, and limitations of domesticated animal models should be recognized and examined. There exists a dire need to increase utilization of knowledge on food habits of wild animals acquired by field biologists, in our effort to improve zoo animal husbandry. Natural history attracts limited interest by zoos. However, it offers a wealth of information which needs to be explored to benefit zoo animal feeding practices.     

Zoo Animal Feeding: A Natural History Viewpoint

In order to formulate animal feeding programs, zoos traditionally borrow knowledge and techniques, developed for domesticated animals, from livestock industry. Although livestock industry provides some of the basic components of feeding it is aimed at economic gain from animals, and the number of species it covers is extremely small. Moreover, wild animals are forced to make considerable adjustments to captivity in all aspects of life, and limitations of domesticated animal models should be recognized and examined. There exists a dire need to increase utilization of knowledge on food habits of wild animals acquired by field biologists, in our effort to improve zoo animal husbandry. Natural history attracts limited interest by zoos. However, it offers a wealth of information which needs to be explored to benefit zoo animal feeding practices.     

Herpetological research in zoos: A literature survey, 1977–1981

Herpetological zoo research published in three journals between 1977 and 1981 was surveyed. Fifty-three of 1,084 published papers involved zoos. Research for 30 papers was conducted in zoos. Just under three fourths of zoo papers involved behavioral research. Sixteen zoos were involved in research in this survey.     

Death at the zoo: the media,science, and reality

Media characterizations of zoo and aquarium animal deaths were randomly monitored on the internet for a 20‐month period (September 2003–May 2005). Based on 148 samples collected, it was possible to classify articles into one of four categories, which were operationally defined: 1) dispassionate observers; 2) accusers; 3) sympathizers; and 4) balancers. In addition, with the notable exception of seven cases, all of the articles examined focused on large, charismatic mammals, such as gorillas, dolphins, lions, and elephants. Although a majority of the articles examined (70.4%) were either dispassionate and objective or sympathetic, nearly a third (29.6%) were either accusatory or attempted to balance the accusatory statements of animal rights activists with sympathetic statements from zoo professionals. Recommendations are offered for how zoos should deal with the increasing media and public interest in zoo animal deaths, including: 1) a greater commitment to studying the reasons for mortality in a wide variety of species; and 2) an increased investment in record keeping and analysis, which should allow zoos to calculate average life spans in animal populations and to monitor and assess the risk of certain lethal diseases on a real‐time basis. Comparisons are drawn between zoo veterinary practices and human medicine, which are both inexact sciences. Suggestions are made for how the public and key decision‐makers can distinguish between media reports on zoo animal deaths that are legitimate cause for concern vs. those that are sensationalist and meant to generate controversy and sell papers. A greater focus on the science of zoo animal death is necessary for accredited zoos to maintain the public's confidence in their animal care practices. Zoo Biol 0:1–15, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.