The Forgotten Taxa : Past, present and future directions in zoo research. Dr Sonya P. Hill

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1 The Forgotten Taxa : Past, present and future directions in zoo research Dr Sonya P. Hill Department of Biological Sciences, University of Chester

2 Happy 20 th Anniversary, BIAZA Research Conference! Increase in zoo research projects Quality and quantity Wide range of topics: from behaviour to (almost) everything Improvements in animal welfare, conservation actions, public awareness But time lag between research and applying findings to animal management (Kirsten Pullen s talk yesterday)

3 What do zoos want from/for their animals? Menageries exotic animals as a symbol of wealth and power Traditional 19 th -20 th century zoos - animals as objects for public entertainment Today (responsible modern zoos) conservation, education, research, optimal welfare Collection plan roles Andrew Mooney s talk yesterday about charismatic megafauna -> visitor attendance -> conservation funding

4 Zoo deaths and media interest

5 Zoo deaths and media interest Hutchins (2006) examined online media articles from Sept 2003 to May samples of articles, focused on zoo and aquarium animal deaths All but 7 of those articles examined focused on large, charismatic mammals (e.g. gorillas, dolphins, lions, elephants) Powell and Ardaiolo (2016) keepers support for humane culling Carr (2016) terms these kinds of animals the boxoffice species

6 From Powell and Ardaiolo (2016) keeper attitudes to human culling

7 Which animals do people most want to see in a zoo? From Carr (2016) p. 41

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9 Zoo research priorities Hutchins and Thompson (2006) Early zoo science very ad hoc Lack of research prioritisation across institutions, disciplines and species Many challenges for research to try to solve Practical (welfare, conservation, education, etc.) Ethical (role of zoos / cons. value, animals, etc.) Many research disciplines Incl. behaviour, veterinary, visitor, conservation, reproduction, nutrition, etc.

10 Zoo research priorities From the broadest perspective, everything unknown is a priority (Hutchins and Thompson, 2006, p.491) but we have thousands of species to deal with (Hill and Broom, 2009) Limited funding for zoo research Sample size issues Challenges of multi-zoo studies (Hosey, 1997) Support via BIAZA Handbook of Zoo Research

11 How are species chosen for research? Martin and Bateson (2007) Conservation value / rare Model species for the research question Researcher s preferences No option (e.g. single species housed at facility) Visibility, etc.

12 What about choosing species for zoo research/research training? Students Personal interests?? Sample size (for exam boards)?? Supervisor s choice?? Research staff in zoos Responding to needs of collection (re: welfare, conservation, etc.)?? Personal interests?? Unusual?? Academics Personal interests?? Unusual??

13 Species-ism Melfi (2005, p. 101) Taxa bias in our primatological zoo research

14 Species-ism Hill and Broom (2009), and Melfi (2009), made a call for wider range of species to be studied in zoos Better understanding of biology of species = betterinformed re: provision of optimal welfare and animal care Potential knock-on effects for conservation education and conservation action of public (Barongi et al., 2015)

15 Species-ism From Melfi (2009, p. 581)

16 Are we being species-ist in our zoo welfare research? Geoff Hosey did half of my talk yesterday I examined Zoo Biology from 1999-June 2018 (~20 years) - articles and reviews [with caveat] Total no. of papers 1006 Topic: Welfare, total N = 147 (in ~ 20 years ) About 15%! Closer inspection: 124 papers for current discussion

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18 Mammals: N = 103/124; Birds: N = 11/124; Reptiles: N = 3/124; Fish: N = 2/124; Amphibian crisis?!

19 Primates: 33% of mammal papers; Carnivora: 24%; Proboscidea: 18%

20 Taxa biases clearly exist, but Andy Bowkett s talk yesterday overall lack of evidence in published literature re: husbandry practice (and other pertinent stuff) Our taxa bias is just one limitation in zoo research Geoff Hosey s talk yesterday: Get it published! Most BIAZA-supported projects not been published in peer-reviewed papers yet (e.g. only 2-3% of PGR/post doc projects) Echoed by Vicky Melfi and others yesterday more research is needed (incl. on people)

21 Going forward? The key message is NOT to stop studying mammals (or even primates yesssssssss!) Keep doing what we re doing - and then some! Publish more [ Do as I say, not as I do ] Work on mammals AND other taxa Wide range of research topics -> Make Geoff Hosey a very happy chappy BEFORE the BIAZA RC 30 th anniversary celebrations in 2028!!

22 Any questions? Discuss potential University of Chester MSc / MRes / PhD projects hill.s@chester.ac.uk;

23 References Barongi, R., Fisken, F. A., Parker, M. & Gusset, M. (eds). (2015). Committing to Conservation: The World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy. Gland: WAZA Executive Office, 69 pp. Carr, N. (2016). Ideal animals and animal traits for zoos: General public perspectives. Tourism Management 57: Hill, S.P. and Broom, D.M., Measuring zoo animal welfare: theory and practice. Zoo Biology 28: Hosey, G.R. (1997). Behavioural research in zoos: Academic perspectives. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 51: Hutchins, M. (2006). Death at the Zoo: The media, science, and reality. Zoo Biology 25: Hutchins, M. and Thompson, S.D. (2006). Zoo and aquarium research: Priority setting for the coming decades. Zoo Biology 27: Martin, P. and Bateson, P. (2007). Measuring behaviour: An introductory guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Melfi, V. (2005). The appliance of science to zoo-housed primates. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 90: Melfi, V.A. (2009). There are big gaps in our knowledge, and thus approach, to zoo animal welfare: A case for evidence-based zoo animal management. Zoo Biology 28: Powell, D.M. and Ardaiolo, M. (2016). Survey of U.S. zoo and aquarium animal care staff attitudes regarding humane euthanasia for population management. Zoo Biology 35:

24 Acknowledgements BIAZA Research Committee for the invitation to speak University of Chester Staff Conference Attendance Fund 2017/18 Students and collaborators