The Value of Zoos for Science and Conservation

Abstract

For too long zoos have been regarded as places of entertainment where people go to laugh at the animals. But the modern zoo has important functions to fill and must take its place as a scientific and cultural institution beside the museum and the research station. The author, editor of the International Zoo Yearbook, suggests that zoos have three main functions: firstly, educational, where their opportunity is enormous — 150 million people a year go to see the half-million vertebrate animals in the 500 zoos and aquaria listed in the Yearbook; secondly as repositories of data about wild animals; thirdly, as breeding centres for endangered species. She believes that a united organised breeding programme, using large units and with each zoo specialising in certain animals, could save many endangered species.