The Untapped Potential of Zoos in Conservation Science

This presentation will focus on an integrated approach to zoo species selection based on the conservation priority of serving the needs of biodiversity through primary species preservation research.  The presentation will summarize the research undertaken at the Wildlife Conservation Society in development of their Global Species Strategy in 2007 – 2008.  The Global Species Strategy assessed the IUCN Red List for species decline that identified optimal alignment and funding research priorities based on principle components analysis of genetic distinctiveness, the role of identified external factors threatening species survival, and the subjective social factors that have direct influence on the financial models underwriting research and preservation efforts. 

Based on findings from this research, the presenter will focus on the implications of this triage approach to conservation research that can be undertaken at zoos worldwide, explore the attributes and risks of the zoo as a laboratory environment, irrespective of its public face, and challenge prevailing perceptions that zoos are primarily for entertainment visits by casual visitors.  Through consideration of the full life-course of animals in zoos and their relationship with the care staff, the presenter will explore different ways of imagining the public role of the zoo.  He will consider the opportunities and affordances of exhibitions that are open to public scrutiny as a type of laboratory that cannot be matched in any other research environment to suggest unique value for advancing the protection of biodiversity around the world. The presenter will propose a new framework for zoos and aquariums to reconsider the value of their collections to global conservation and the limitations of current discourses and display strategies that prevent operationalizing this framework to advance science.  The presenter will then explore the implications of this new framework for moral discourses about the role of zoos in a more sustainable society.