A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public and in which they may also be bred. The term zoological garden refers to the biological discipline zoology, which derives from Greek zωο (Zōo - "animal"), and λóγος (lógos - "study"). The term "zoo" was used as an abbreviation for the London Zoological Gardens which opened in 1828 for scientific study (and opened to the public in 1847)^[1][2].

History

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 existing zoo, the Vienna Zoo in Austria, evolved from such an aristocratic menagerie founded in 1752 by the Habsburg monarchy.

The first public zoo was the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes, founded in Paris in 1793 primarily for scientific and educational reasons. The founders and members of the Zoological Society of London adopted the idea of the early Paris zoo when they established London Zoo in 1828.

The success of London Zoo set off a wave of similar establishments. 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 earlier, in 1859, the Philadelphia Zoological Society had made an effort to establish a zoological park, but delayed until 1874 due to the American Civil War.

A jaguar statue in Rio de Janeiro's Zoological Garden

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.^[3][4][5][6]

Appearance

Monkey islands at the São Paulo Zoo

The macaque enclosure at the Zigong People's Park Zoo, Sichuan, China

Many zoos in Europe and North America keep animals in enclosures that attempt to replicate their natural habitats, for the benefit of both resident animals and visitors. They may have special buildings for nocturnal animals, with dim lighting during the day, so the animals will be active when visitors are there, and brighter 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, reptiles, fishes and other aquatic life forms have also been developed.

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 popular with small children. To ensure the animals' health, the food is supplied by the zoo, either from vending machines or a kiosk nearby. There are independent and zoo-based petting zoos.

Some zoos have walk-through exhibits where visitors enter enclosures of non-aggressive species, such as lemurs, marmosets, birds, lizards, turtles etc. Visitors are asked to keep to paths and avoid showing or eating foods that the animals might snatch. The animals are not tame.

Conservation, education, research

Most modern zoos in Europe and North America display wild animals primarily for the conservation of endangered species and for educational and research purposes, and secondarily for the entertainment of visitors.^[7][8] 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.^[9]

The breeding of endangered species is coordinated by 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 regional programmes for the conservation of endangered species:

• America: Species Survival Plans SSP (American Zoo and Aquarium Association AZA, Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums)
• Europe: European Endangered Species Program EEP (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria EAZA)
• Australasia: Australasian Species Management Program ASMP (Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria ARAZPA)
• Africa: African Preservation Program APP (African Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquaria PAAZAB)
• Japan: Conservation activities of Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums JAZA
• South Asia: Conservation activities of South Asian Zoo Association for Regional Cooperation SAZARC
• South East Asia: Conservation activities of South East Asian Zoo Association SEAZA

Criticism of zoos

Chimpanzee in Warsaw zoo

Many animal rights activists have censured zoos arguing that they are little more than a show of power demonstrating human domination over animals. It is also argued that by divorcing animals from their natural environments, zoos only present the shells of animals rather than true (wild) nature, and as a result provide little or no educational value. ^[10]

The condition of the animals has also come under heavy scrutiny. Critics note that traditionally capturing animals for exhibition generally meant killing the parents and capturing the youth, and today includes exhausting animals by chasing them with a car, using a car to separate young animals from their mothers, and shining searchlights into the eyes of nocturnal animals. ^[10] Historians Eric Baratay and Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier cite statistics showing that three-quarters of apes die in captivity within the first twenty months, with the overall "stock turnover" of animals being one-fifth to one-fourth over the course of a year. They further note that this "extreme mortality of wild animals in zoos has always been the driving force behind the massive scale of importations." ^{[10] [11]}

Additionally, many thousands of animals are placed on "surplus lists" each year, where they are sold to, among other places, "circuses, animal merchants, auctions, individual pet owners, game farms, hunting ranches, and trophy collectors." ^[10] These sales have been criticized for leading to vivisection by scientists, the hunting of endangered cats for sport, and selling animals directly to taxidermists to be killed and stuffed. In one case, a zoo owner named William Hampton was discovered to have been buying animals and systematically slaughtering them, in order to sell their skins, heads, and pelts as trophies. ^[10] Likewise, anti-zoo critics have argued that those animals who do live in zoos are treated as voyeuristic objects rather than living creatures, and often driven to insanity in the transition from being free and wild to incarcerated and dependent on humans for survival. ^[10]

In China, zoo visitors can witness lions devouring a live goat, and can purchase live chickens tied to bamboo rods to dangle into lion pens.^[12]

Some animal welfare groups however do not fundamentally reject the existence of zoological gardens, but seek to remedy the unnatural and unhealthy conditions in which many captive animals live--particularly the problem of small cages lacking environmental enrichment. Some zoos continue to provide their animals inadequate care, particularly those zoos that are unlicensed, those that are overly commercially-concerned and those that suffer from lack of money. Stereotypical behavioral patterns such as pacing, rocking and swaying may indicate stress or suffering of animals in unsuitable enclosures. For example, unhealthy elephants may sway continuously from side to side or rock back and forth.

The majority of the large non-profit and scientifically oriented institutions are working to improve their animal enclosures, although constraints like size and expense make it difficult to create ideal captive environments for some species (for example, dolphins and whales).^[13][14]

Regulation of zoos in the United States

In the United States, any public animal exhibit must be licensed and inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Drug Enforcement Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and others.

Depending on the animals they exhibit, the activities of zoos are regulated by laws including the Endangered Species Act, the Animal Welfare Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and other laws.^[15]

Additionally, zoos in North America may choose to pursue accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. To achieve accreditation, a Zoo must pass an application and inspection process and meet or exceed the AZA's standards for animal health and welfare, fundraising, zoo staffing, and involvement in global conservation efforts. Inspection is performed by three experts (typically one veterinarian, one expert in animal care, and one expert in zoo management and operations) and then reviewed by a panel of twelve experts before accreditation is awarded. This accreditation process is repeated once every five years.

The AZA estimates that there are approximately 2,400 animal exhibits operating under USDA license as of February 2007; fewer than 10% are accredited.^[16]

Special zoos and related facilities

The old style elephant enclosure at Rio de Janeiro Zoo (Brazil)

Some zoos concentrate on animals of geographical regions, on animals of the water (aquarium) 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 larger than the classical zoo. The first of this new kind of animal park was Whipsnade Park which 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 San Pasqual Valley near San Diego also accommodates a remarkable 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 savannah. This 500-acre zoo is managed by the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board which also manages Melbourne Zoo. One of only 2 American state supported zoo parks is the 535-acre North Carolina Zoo located in Asheboro, North Carolina.

One of the rarest species in a zoo or public aquarium is the Amazon River Dolphin (picture from Duisburg Zoo)

Public aquaria

The first public aquarium was opened in London Zoo in 1853. This was followed by the opening of public aquaria in Europe (for example, Paris 1859, Hamburg 1864, Berlin 1869, Brighton 1872) and the United States (Boston 1859, Washington 1873, San Francisco Woodward's Garden 1873, New York Battery Park 1896). In 2005 the non-profit Georgia Aquarium with more than 8 million US gallons (30,000 m³; 30,000,000 litres) of marine and fresh water, and more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species opened in Atlanta, Georgia. The aquarium's 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. Marine mammal parks such as Sea World and Marineland are more elaborate dolphinariums keeping whale species and containing additional entertainment attractions. Another kind of animal theme park contains more entertainment and amusement elements than the classical zoo, such as a stage shows, roller coasters, and mythical creatures. Some examples are Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa, Florida and Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.

See also

• List of zoos
  • Wildlife refuge
  • International Park
  • Fossil Parks
  • National Park
  • National Forest
  • International Network of Geoparks
• List of zoo associations
• Animals in captivity
  • Environmental enrichment
• Conservation
  • Wildlife conservation
    • Ex-situ conservation
    • In-situ conservation
  • Conservation movement
  • List of Conservation topics
• Extinction
  • Endangered species
• Zoo Emergency Response Team
• Zoology (includes a list of prominent zoologists)
• Immersion exhibit
• Frozen Zoo

Notes

Further reading

• Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) North American Association of Zoos and Aquariums
• Zoos Worldwide Zoos, aquariums, animal sanctuaries and wildlife parks
• World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
• Zoological Gardens keeping Asian Elephants
• AIZA

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Zoo"