Zoo
"Zoo" redirects here. For }, see }.A
zoological garden,
zoological park, or
zoo is an institution where mainly
wild and
exotic animals are restricted within enclosures, bred and displayed to the public. The term zoological garden refers to the
biological discipline zoology, which derives from
Greek Ζωο ("animal"), and
λογος ("study"). The term was first used in 1828 for the
London Zoological Gardens, soon shortened by the Londoners to the abbreviation "zoo".
Most large cities in the world have zoos, though of drastically varying size and quality. Major zoos are important
tourist attractions. More than 135 million people visit zoos in the
United States and
Canada every year, but most zoos operate at a loss and must find ways to cut costs. Many non-profit zoos, particularly institutions operating in
conservation biology,
education, and
biological research, depend on public funding.
Most of today's non-profit and serious zoological gardens display wild animals not just for the amusement and the entertainment of their visitors but mainly for
conservation of endangered
species, for
education and
biological research. The concern of these institutions is to help save the
diversity of life on Earth through applied conservation activities such as breeding endangered species.
[Colin Tudge: Last Animals in the Zoo: How Mass Extinction Can Be Stopped, London 1991. ISBN 1559631570] [ http://www.biaza.org.uk/resources/library/images/MANIFESTO.pdf John Regan Associates: Manifesto for Zoos, 2004 ] In 1993 the
World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), formerly known as the International Union of the Directors of Zoological Gardens, produced its first conservation strategy. In November 2004 WAZA adopted a new strategy that sets out the aims and mission of zoological gardens of the twenty-first century.
[http://www.waza.org/conservation/wzacs.php The World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy]The breeding of endangered species is coordinated by special cooperative breeding programmes containing international studbooks and coordinators, who evaluate the roles of individual animals and institutions from a global or regional perspective. There are various regional programmes for the conservation of endangered species:
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America: Species Survival Plans SSP (
American Zoo and Aquarium Association AZA,
Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums)
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Europe: European Endangered Species Program EEP (
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria)
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Australasia: Australasian Species Management Program ASMP (
Australasian Regional *Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria ARAZPA)
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Africa: African Preservation Program APP (African Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquaria PAAZAB)
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Japan: Conservation activities of Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums JAZA
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South Asia: Conservation activities of South Asian Zoo Association for Regional Cooperation SAZARC
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South East Asia: Conservation activities of South East Asian Zoo Association SEAZA
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Sea lions at the Melbourne Zoo |
The predecessor of the zoological garden is the
menagerie that has a long history from the
Middle Ages to modern times. The oldest still existing zoo, the
Vienna Zoo in
Austria, evolved from such an aristocratic
menagerie founded in 1752 by the
Habsburg monarchy and changed its face as well as its mission throughout the centuries. The first zoo founded primarily just for
scientific and
educational reasons was the
Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in
Paris (1794). The founders and members of the
Zoological Society of London adopted the idea of the early Paris zoo when they initiated and established
London Zoo in 1828. The success of London Zoo set off a wave of further zoo establishments across the world. The first zoological garden established in
Australia was
Melbourne Zoo in 1860. In the same year the first zoo of the
United States opened to the public in
New York City (
Central Park Zoo), although quite earlier, in 1859, the
Philadelphia Zoological Society had made an effort to establish a zoological park, but delayed due to the
American Civil War.
When
ecology emerged as a matter of public interest through the 1970s, a few zoos began to consider making conservation their central role, with
Gerald Durrell of the
Jersey Zoo, George Rabb of
Brookfield Zoo, and William Conway of the
Bronx Zoo (
Wildlife Conservation Society) leading the discussion. Since then, zoo professionals became increasingly aware of the need to engage themselves in conservation programmes and the
American Zoo Association soon asserted that conservation had become its highest priority.
[Vernon N. Kisling (ed.): Zoo and Aquarium History, Boca Raton 2001. ISBN 084932100x][R. J. Hoage, William A. Deiss (ed.): New Worlds, New Animals, Washington 1996. ISBN 0801851106][Elizabeth Hanson: Animal Attractions, Princeton 2002. ISBN 0691059926][David Hancocks: A Different Nature, Berkeley 2001. ISBN 0520218795] |
Free monkey's islands at the São Paulo Zoo |
Most modern zoos keep animals in enclosures that attempt to replicate their natural
habitats. Many zoos now have special buildings for
nocturnal animals, with dim red
lighting during the day, so the animals will be active when visitors are there, and bright lights at night to ensure that they sleep. Special climate conditions are created for animals living in radical environments, such as
penguins. Special enclosures for
birds,
insects,
fishes and other aquatic life forms have also been developed and are used in many zoos.
A
petting zoo (also called children's farms or children's zoos) features a combination of
domestic animals and some wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. Petting zoos are extremely popular with small children. In order to ensure the animals' health, the food is supplied by the zoo, either from
vending machines or a
kiosk nearby. In addition to independent petting zoos, many general zoos contain one within it.
Many zoos have walk-through exhibits, where visitors enter enclosures of non-aggressive species, like
lemurs,
marmosets,
birds,
lizards,
turtles etc. Visitors are normally asked to keep to paths, and animals are not tame.
Contemporary criticisms relating to the use of zoos during the
New Imperialism period have been registered, denouncing cases where
indigenous people were displayed in cages along others animals in an attempt to illustrate and demonstrate
scientific racism thesis. In 1906, socialite and amateur anthropologist
Madison Grant, head of the
New York Zoological Society, had Congolese
pygmy Ota Benga put on display at the
Bronx Zoo in New York City alongside the apes and other, as an example of the "missing link" between
orangutan and white man. This phenomenon has been designated as "
human zoos", and lasted until after World War I. Thus, human beings were displayed in cages during the 1931 Parisian
Colonial Exhibition and a "Congolese village" displayed at
Brussels' World Fair in 1958.
[http://www.africultures.com/anglais/articles_anglais/43blanchard.htm]]More recently, most
animal rights activists disapprove of zoos as a matter of principle, because they interpret zoos as human domination over equal creatures and criticize their educational value as being superficial and useless.
Animal welfare groups however do not fundamentally reject the existence of zoological gardens, but they point to the often unnatural and controversial conditions of keeping animals in human captivity, particularly in small cages without any environmental enrichment. Indeed, several zoos are still keeping their animals under unacceptable conditions according to high animal welfare standards, especially those who are primarily commercially orientated and those who suffer from lack of money.
Stereotypical behavioral patterns such as pacing, rocking and swaying indicate suffering of animals in unsuitable enclosures. For example,
elephants often sway continuously from side to side, or else sometimes rock back and forth.
The majority of the large non-profit and serious institutions with conservationist, educational as well as scientific orientation are permanently working to improve their animal enclosures, although it remains difficult to create acceptable and sizable artificial environments according to animal welfare for some special species (for example,
dolphins and other
whales).
[Stephen St C. Bostock: Zoos and Animal Rights, London 1993. ISBN 041505057X][Bryan G. Norton, Michael Hutchins, Elizabeth F. Stevens, Terry L. Maple (ed.): Ethics on the Ark. Zoos, Animal Welfare, and Wildlife Conservation, Washington, DC 1995. ISBN 1560985151][Randy Malmud: Reading Zoos. Representations of Animals and Captivity, New York 1998. ISBN 0814756026] |
Panda enclosure at Chiang Mai Zoo |
Contrary to the classical zoological garden that displays the entire world
fauna, some special zoos concentrate on animals of certain
geographical regions, on animals of the water or attempt to exhibit their animals in a different way. Some of these institutions, mainly those who evolved from former
amusement parks, connect entertainment elements with exhibiting live animals.
Wild Animal Parks
Wild animal parks are far more sizeable than the classical zoo. The first of this new kind of animal park was
Whipsnade Wild Animal Park opened in 1931 in
Bedfordshire,
England. This park owned by the
Zoological Society of London covers 600 acres (2.4 km²) and is still one of
Europe's largest wildlife conservation parks where animals are kept within sizeable enclosures. Since the early 1970s a 1,800-acre parcel (7 km²) in the Pasqual Valley near
San Diego also accommodates a remarkable new zoo, the
San Diego Wild Animal Park that is run by the
Zoological Society of San Diego. Another zoo comparable to these wild animal parks is the
Werribee Open Range Zoo in
Melbourne,
Australia, focusing on displaying animals living in a wide open savanna. This 500-acre zoo is part of the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board which also includes
Melbourne Zoo.
Public Aquaria
The first public
aquarium was opened in London Zoo in 1853. This event was followed by the opening of a number of public aquaria from 1853 to 1899 in Europe (for example, Paris 1859, Hamburg 1864, 1868, Berlin 1869, Brighton 1872) and the United States (Boston 1859, Washington 1873, San Francisco 1894, New York 1896). Numerous other public aquaria opened during the twentieth century. In 2005 the non-profit
Georgia Aquarium with more than 8 million US gallons (30,000 m³; 30,000,000 liters) of marine and fresh water, and more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species opened in
Atlanta, Georgia. The aquarium's notable specimens include
whale sharks and
beluga whales.
Animal Theme Parks
An animal theme park is a combination of an
amusement park and a zoo, mainly for entertaining and commercial purposes. Controversially discussed, but even very popular especially in the
United States are
marine mammal parks such as
Sea World. This kind of animal theme park is a more elaborate
dolphinarium keeping further
whale species and containing additional entertainment attractions. Another new kind of animal theme park is 1998 opened
Disney's Animal Kingdom in
Orlando, Florida. This commercial theme park established by the
Walt Disney Company is similar to wild animal parks according to size (550 acres, 2 km²), but different to intentions and appearance since it contains far more entertainment and amusement elements than the classical zoo.
Center for Elephant Conservation
The
Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC) is a 200-acre animal sanctuary for elephants in
Florida, opened in 1995 as a home for retired
circus animals. The CEC is the only institution of its kind in the world, established for the conservation just for one animal species. It is the largest
Asian Elephant gene pool outside of
Southeast Asia.
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List of zoos*
Animals in captivity*
Environmental enrichment*
Do not feed the animals*
Zoos Worldwide An extensive list of zoos, aquariums, animal sanctuaries and wildlife parks worldwide.
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Zoo-talk features zoo and animal news from all over the world
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zoolex.org devoted to zoo design
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Lists of animals surviving only in zoos and of breeding programs with links to some of the species.
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Virtual Zoo with popular zoo animals with guidelines to keeping of many species.
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Photo Gallery with Images of Animals held in Captivity*
Live Cincinnati Zoo Webcams
