Zoo
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A zoological garden, shortened to zoo, is an institution in which living animals are exhibited in captivity. In addition to their status as tourist attractions and recreational facilities, modern zoos may engage in captive breeding programs, conservation study, and educational outreach. Zoos are a subject of controversy stemming from many sources, including the quality of life of the animals they exhibit, and the perceived necessity or purpose of exhibiting captive animals at all. Zoos are frequently criticized by animal rights groups. [1]
Collections of wild animals existed already in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. In medieval Europe some monarchs, monasteries, and municipalities continued to maintain collections of wild animals. The transition from menagerie, a predominantly private collection, to public institution marks the beginning of the modern zoo concept. Collections established during the nineteenth century began calling themselves zoological gardens. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many new zoos and related facilities were founded for very different motives and purposes.
Zoo professionals proclaim demanding aims for their institutions, from educating the public to conservation of biodiversity. Many zoos define their aims as recreation, education, research, and conservation. Animal-rights groups claim that there is a wide gap between these claimed aims and actual practice, and that zoos have commercial and entertainment purposes in mind as well as financial profit.
Types of zoo include urban, open-range, safari, animal theme, roadside, rescue, sanctuary, petting, and specialized. The most traditional form of maintaining wild animals in captivity is keeping them in cages constructed of concrete or metal, in aviaries, or fenced paddocks. Most zoological gardens incorporated within international umbrella organizations are led by professionals such as zoologists or veterinarians.
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[edit] Etymology
The terms zoo and zoological garden, that refer to zoology (from Greek: zωο, zoion, "animal"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge"), did not come into use until the modern zoo concept developed during the nineteenth century. The Zoological Society of London first used this term to describe its collection at Regent's Park, although this collection was simultaneously referred to as a menagerie. Most zoo founders of the nineteenth century operated with the term zoological garden to distinguish their institutions from the aristocratic and travelling menageries. The abbreviation zoo first appeared in print in Britain about 1847, when it was used for the Clifton Zoo, but it was not until some twenty years later that the shortened form became popular by a song called "Walking in the Zoo on Sunday".[2]
Relatively new terms for zoos, which were coined in the late twentieth century, are conservation park or biopark. Adopting a new name is a strategy by some zoo professionals to distance their institutions from the stereotypical and nowadays criticized zoo concept of the nineteenth century.[3] The term "biopark" was first coined and developed by the National Zoo, Washington, D.C. calling itself "Creating the Nation's first Biopark" in the late 1980s. [4] In 1993, the New York Zoological Society changed its name to the Wildlife Conservation Society and rebranched the zoos under its jurisdiction as "wildlife conservation parks". [5]
[edit] History
[edit] From ancient to modern times
Collections of wild animals existed already in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China.
The most abundant evidence of the earliest zoos from Egypt derives from burial sites of about 2500 BC to 1400 BC. Throughout the entire period, written records -- on tablets, papyri, and tomb walls -- describe how pharaohs and sometimes other power brokers made zoos for pleasure and prestige and to satisfy scientific curiosity. Rulers gathered many of their animals from distant lands, frequently setting forth on expeditions for that purpose or receiving their quarry as gifts from fellow leaders or conquered peoples. They kept hyenas, monkeys, various antelopes, and mongooses. Proud of their collections, they took pains to ensure that their acquisitions would thrive and reproduce. Indeed, they often employed handlers to care for finicky creatures. [6] The ancient Egyptians began keeping wild animals in form of acclimatization which sometimes has approached domestication. On tomb pictures dating from 2500 BC, at Saqqara, some ungulates including antelopes, gazelles and ibex are depicted wearing collars and holding in leash.[7] Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut established a zoo in Thebes around 1490 BC. Hatshepsut's zoo contained exotic animals collected from what is today Somalia, and it included tall cattle, exotic birds, cheetahs, leopards, monkeys and a giraffe.[8] During the Hellenistic period, Ptolemy I of Egypt (323-285 BC), who had a particular interest in natural history, founded a great zoo in Alexandria. [9] His son Ptolemy II developed the Alexandria zoo into the greatest collection of animals the world had yet known. The animals were put on parade at the great ceremonies. In 285 BC, a typical procession for the feast of Dionysus included 96 elephants, 24 lions, 14 leopards, 16 cheetahs, 14 camels, a giraffe, a rhinoceros, hundreds of domestic animals as well as numerous birds. [7]
In Mesopotamia, the kings of Sumeria, Babylonia, and Assyria were proud of their animal collections, which were symbol of power, wealth, and authority. The kings were especially proud of rare specimens their subjects and foreign dignitaries sent after diligent searches and difficult transport. Animals came from Asia via trade with the Indus society and from Africa via trade with the Egyptians. [10] The earliest zoo with large carnivores as lions was probably in Sumer and was King Shulgi's (2094-2047 BC) of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. [11]Babylonian and Assyrian royal parks and gardens were often a place to keep animals. Tiglath-Pileser I, King of Assyria (1114-1076 BC), kept herds of deer, gazelles, and ibex from conquered territories in his park. Ashurnasirpal II, King of Assyria (883-859 BC), had herds of wild bulls, lions, ostriches and apes. Sargon II, King of Assyria (721-705 BC), was particularly fond of lions and falcons. [12] The richest evidence of the earliest zoos from Mesopotamia comes from Assyrian palace reliefs of about 880 BC to 627 BC. [6] Bas-reliefs from Assyrian royal palaces show monkeys, antelopes, camels, elephants, and other species brought to the Assyrian kings as tribute. [10] 7th century BC stone reliefs from Nineveh (now in the British Museum) depict the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal hunting lions, which seem to have been first caught and held in cages before being released and hunted to death. [13] A relief on one of the palace walls particularly shows a scene of Lion Hunt where a captive lion is released from its transport crate into the animal park of Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria (668-627 BC) at Nineveh, Mesopotamia. Another well-known collector of lions was King Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia (605-562 BC). [7]
In ancient China, wild animals, especially exotic species, held the interest of rulers and the wealthy class. Starting with the founder of the Shang dynasty (ca. 1500 BC), China's rulers built animal reserves. [14] The Chinese empress Tanki, who ruled around 1150 BC, built a marble "house of deer". [15] However, it was Wen Wang, founder of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1000-200 BC), who built the first well-known animal reserve, which he called Lingyou, commonly referred to as the "Garden of Intelligence". A more accurate translation would be "Garden for the Encouragement of Knowledge". This reserve and similar parks owned by the wealthy class of the Zhou period were large, walled-in natural areas that required their own staffs of administrators, keepers, and veterinarians, and housing a different animals like deer, fish, and "white birds with dazzling plumes". The rulers of the Qin (221-206 BC), Han (206 BC-AD 220), Tang (618-907), and Song (960-1279) dynasties continued the fashion of large royal parks, where birds and mammals were kept in cages for personal pleasure and the demonstration of wealth and power.[14] In the thirteenth century, Marco Polo described the royal menagerie of Kublai Khan (1215-1294), founder of the Yuan Dynasty, in Shang-tu, which maintained leopards, tigers, lynxes and elephants, as well eagles and falcons used for hunting. [9] In 1417, Yung-lo, a Chinese Ming Dynasty emperor, organised an expedition to Africa to collect a giraffe; apparently the emperor had a menagerie that included a zebra and other African animals. [9] The fifteenth century Chinese explorer Cheng Ho returned in 1422 from Africa with at least one giraffe and one zebra. [15]
Also in the ancient Greek and Roman world live animal collections existed. In the fourth century BC, Greek animal collections enabled Aristotle to write the first systematic zoological survey, The History of Animals, which describes about three hundred vertebrates known at this time. His student, Alexander the Great, sent information and specimens back to Greece from his eastern campaign. Alexander's travels east into Persia opened up a new source of animals for Grecian menageries. [16] Historians have written many publications about extravagant and bloodthirsty spectacles in Rome, involving wild animals. The 19th-century historian W.E.H. Lecky wrote of the Roman games, first held in 366 BC: "At one time, a bear and a bull, chained together, rolled in fierce contest along the sand ... Four hundred bears were killed in a single day under Caligula ... Under Nero, four hundred tigers fought with bulls and elephants. In a single day, at the dedication of the Colosseum by Titus, five thousand animals perished. Under Trajan ... lions, tigers, leopards, bears, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, giraffes, bulls, stags, even crocodiles and serpents were employed to give novelty to the spectacle ..." [17] However, little has been written about the facilities of keeping those animals.[18] By the second century BC, wealthy and influential Romans were keeping aviaries, fish ponds and menageries to show their power and prestige. [9] The Latin word vivarium referred to the stockyards and arenas where wild animals were held for public spectacles.[19] In Rome there were extensive animal holding areas, called vivaria, associated with the arenas that citizens might view. These were menageries of a sort. Each Roman emperor had a menagerie for triumphal processions and official celebrations, especially gladiatorial exhibitions in which animals were killed. At the dawn of the Christian era the Emperor Augustus (29 BC-AD 14) is recorded to have had over 3,500 wild and tamed animals from his menagerie killed in 26 celebrations, including 420 tigers, 260 lions, 36 crocodiles, and a number of elephants and rhinoceroses. [9]
In medieval Europe some monarchs, monasteries, and municipalities continued to maintain collections of wild animals. One of these collections was the Tower Menagerie in London.[20]
In the New World, one of the earliest and most impressive collections of animals was that of the Aztec emperor Montezuma II in Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). It contained several buildings and flight cages and numerous gardens, lakes, streams, and ponds for its birds, mammals and reptiles. Hundred of gardeners and animals keepers tended the collections and the grounds. Unfortunately, these animal collections were destroyed during the Spanish conquest (1519-1521) by Hernando Cortés. [21]
At the middle of the 16th century, Hessen was ruled by Landgraf Wilhelm IV. In 1571 this prince established a zoological garden at the Sababurg, the hunting castle in the heart of the Reinhards Forest not far from Kassel. The prime purpose of the wild animal park was at first to furnish the kitchens with meat. Since 1971, the heritage is Tierpark Sababurg. [22]
Menageries owned by monarchs and wealthy aristocrats can be seen as the predecessor institution of the modern zoological garden. One of these aristocratic menageries was the Versailles menagerie during the reign of Louis XIV. The oldest existing zoo, the Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, evolved from such an aristocratic menagerie, founded by the Habsburg monarchy in 1752.[23]
[edit] Evolution of the modern zoo concept
The transition from menagerie, a predominantly private collection, to public institution marks the beginning of the modern zoo concept. Collections established during the nineteenth century began calling themselves zoological gardens. In some cases this was simply fashionable since zoos were considered professionally managed facilities, whether they were or not. In other cases there was an emphasis on education and science rather than on entertainment. [24]
The first modern zoo, established particularly for scientific and educational purposes according to its founders, was the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes as part of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris (1793). It was, significantly, laid out like a picturesque park -- a semblance of Nature emphasized by Rousseau -- while the buildings themselves housed caged animals as if in museum display cabinets. [25] About thirty years later, the Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles. The Zoological Society of London stated in its charter that its aim was "the advancement of zoology and animal physiology and the introduction of new and curious subjects of the animal kingdom". The members of the Zoological Society of London adopted the idea of the early Paris zoo when they established London Zoo as a scientific zoo in 1827.[26] It opened in 1828 in Regent's Park, admitting members and their guests. Only in 1847 were working people allowed in, for a shilling. London Zoo admitted paying visitors to aid funding of its scientific work. The taxonomic presentation of animals at the London Zoo became the model for the nineteenth century. The success of London Zoo set off a Victorian wave of similar establishments. [27]
The Berlin Zoo, which is often said to have the most extensive range of species worldwide, was constructed in 1841 on the site of the former royal pheasant run in the Tiergarten at Charlottenburg. Friedrich Wilhelm IV not only donated in 1841 the site of his pheasantry to the newly-founded shareholders' association Zoo Aktiengesellschaft, but in 1844 also donated 850 animals from the royal menagerie, which moved from Peacock Island (“Pfaueninselâ€) to Tiergarten. The Berlin Zoo, the first in Germany, was opened on 1st August 1844. [28]
The world’s first acclimatization society was the Société Zoologique d’Acclimatation, founded in Paris in 1854. [29] The founding president was Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, professor of zoology at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle and director of the Ménagerie (created in 1793). In 1860 Isidore and his son, Albert Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, opened Jardin Zoologique d’Acclimatation, located in the Bois de Boulogne, west of Paris. [30]
The history of modern zoos in India began around the middle of the nineteenth century. The first zoo was probably Marble Palace Zoo, started in 1854 by Raja Mullick Bahadur in the private mansion in the center of Calcutta. There were many mammals and birds in this collection. [31] In 1855, a zoo was set by the Municipality of Madras in a 20-acre (80,000 m2) area near the Railway station. It was closed down in 1980 and shifted to a new 1,260-acre (5.1 km2) site, known as the Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandalur. This is a modern zoo of India. [31]
The Zoological Society of Victoria was established in 1857 and was the first to develop a major zoo in Australia. Its priorities had shifted from collecting and displaying exotic animals to importing large numbers of unusual domestic animals. To reflect this emphasis, the society renames itself the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria in 1861 and concentrated its efforts on acquiring useful animals. The animals in question fell into three broad categories: economic, game and ornamental. The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens opened on the Royal Park site in 1862. [32]
In the United States, physician William Camac initiated the incorporation of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia in 1859. According to the society's charter, "The object of this Corporation shall be the purchase and collection of living wild and other animals, for the purpose of public exhibition at some suitable place in the City of Philadelphia, for the instruction and recreation of the people."[33] The American Civil War interrupted these efforts so that the opening of the Philadelphia Zoo delayed until 1874. Some years ago, the Central Park menagerie evolved from gifts of exotic pets and other animals informally given to the Park, beginning, apparently, with a bear and some swans deposited near New York's arsenal on the edge of Central Park in 1859.[34] About 1861/62, a smaller zoo with lower standards had been already established in New York City, the Central Park Zoo.[35] In 1864 it received charter confirmation from New York's assembly.[34] The Baltimore Zoo actually had its beginnings as early as 1862, when the first of many citizens gave animals to Druid Hill Park for public display. It was officialy created by act of Maryland state legislature on April 7, 1876. The Maryland state legislature had authorized the Baltimore Park Commission to establish a zoological collection. [36]Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, was founded in 1868, when the Lincoln Park commissioners were given a gift of a pair of swans. [37]Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island was established in 1872 with a small collection of mostly native animals. [38] The Zoological Society of Cincinnati was established in 1873. A site was acquired the following year, and the Cincinnati Zoo opened on September 18, 1875. [39] Other zoos in the United States began as menageries, when animals were donated to a park system and city fathers had to find a place to house them. The zoos in Buffalo, New York (1875); Binghamton, New York (1875); and Cleveland, Ohio (1882) are examples of this type of "startup". [40] When the first American zoological gardens came into existence, only a few supporters of the early animal welfare movement spoke out against zoos. Humanitarians protested cruelty in training animals for circuses more often than they opposed zoos. Their concerns were that zoo animals were healthy and well cared for, and not subjected to cruelty or pain.[41]
In March 1889 an Act of Congress authorized the formation of a National Zoological Park Commission to select an purchase land for a zoological park in the District of Columbia "for the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the people". In April 1890 Congress passed another act, placing the National Zoological Park under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents. First animals arrived in 1891 at Washington Zoo. [42]
The New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) was incorporated in 1895. Objectives of the society were "to establish and maintain in New York a zoological garden for the purpose of encouraging and advancing the study of zoology, original researches in the same and kindred subjects, and of furnishing instruction and recreation to the people". The New York Zoological Park (the Bronx Zoo, now the Wildlife Conservation Park) opened in 1899. [43]
Ueno Zoo opened its gate in 1882 in heavily wooded Ueno Park, Tokyo, as part of the national museum, and was the first modern zoo in Japan. Kyoto Zoo was the second modern zoo in the country, opening in Okazaki Park, Kyoto, in 1903 to commemorate the wedding of the crown prince, who later became emperor. The birth of the third zoo followed in 1915 in Osaka, a municipal facility known as Tennoji Zoo. The imperial facility gave the Ueno Zoo to the City of Tokyo in 1924 to commemorate the wedding of another crown prince. [44]
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many new zoos and related facilities were founded for very different motives and purposes. Cultural and philosophical attitudes as well as political developments such as imperialism had an impact on the appearance and aims of zoological gardens. Human beings were sometimes displayed in zoos along with non-human animals, supposedly to illustrate the differences between people of European and non-European origin (“Human zoosâ€).[45] According to historians Eric Baratay and Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier the zoos of that period reflected the determination of imperialist nations to classify and dominate.[46]
In 1931, a small zoo was built by the Hagenbeck's firm for the Colonial Exposition organized by Lyautey in Paris. [47] The popular success of this temporary zoo inspired the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle to create a new zoological garden inaugurated in 1934 in the Bois de Vincennes, east of Paris. [48]
The most important zoo in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde, opened in 1955. Because of its connections and animal dealings with Eastern European zoos, it contains some of the rarest species. Its former connection with the Academy of Science of the GDR supported research at Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde. It became one of the leading zoos of the world with many rare breeding groups of birds and mammals. [49]
In the 1950s, Bernhard Grzimek used the zoo and the zoological society of Frankfurt to popularize the idea of nature conservation. [50] 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 Jersey Zoo, George Rabb of Brookfield Zoo, and William Conway of Bronx Zoo leading the discussion. [51] Since then, zoo professionals became increasingly aware of the need to engage themselves in conservation.[52] As a modern ark, the concept of frozen zoo had been added to both captive breeding (“ex-situ conservationâ€) and conservation in the wild (“in-situ conservationâ€). Especially in America, the new zoo concept had been developed. [53] The changes at zoos have served both the ideology of environmentalism and the day-to-day needs of zoos to maintain their collections. Many of contemporary zoos led by professionals show fewer species and display social animals in groups; landscape immersion exhibits replicate animal habitats.[54] The zoological garden of the nineteenth century eventually evolved into the biopark, or conservation park, of the late twentieth century. The conservation park concept is quickly being superseded with an even newer one, the environmental center of the twenty-first century. [19] In effect, it is announced that the role of zoos will be changing in the 21st century. Instead of the living museums that they were in the 20th century, more and more zoos will become environmental resource centres in which ecosystems and survival of species are supported. It is also proposed that, as possible agents for conservation, visitors to zoos should play an active role in this process. [55]
- Further information: List of zoos
[edit] Aims
Zoo professionals proclaim exalting and demanding aims for their institutions, from educating the public to conservation of biodiversity. [56] Many zoos define their aims as recreation, education, research, and conservation. Animal-rights groups claim that there is a wide gap between the claimed aims and actual practice, and that owners of zoos have commercial and entertainment purposes in mind to increase their financial profit. Some zoos work to save endangered species, but most animals in zoos are bred in captivity for the purpose of public display, not species protection. In his 1985 critique of zoos, philosopher Dale Jamieson asserted that zoos generally do not live up to their own goals, that zoo animals are deprived of freedom for little social or scientific good, and that zoos cause suffering without producing compensatory benefits for animals or people.[57] Jamieson argues that a moral presumption against keeping animals in captivity outweighs any benefit that might accrue from education, science, or species preservation.[58] The animal rights philosophy refuses zoos as a matter of principle. Keeping wild animals in captivity is seen as human domination over other creatures.[59]
French historians Baratay and Hardouin-Fugier see zoos as an allegory for the contradictions of modern Western societies: "The zoo made concrete, in an enclosed space, what society wanted to do in nature, as, with the advance of urbanization, people felt an increasing need to preserve the wild. But the desire remained unrealized, because Western society did not want its methods called into question, and because, in the final analysis, it preferred to transplant, delimit, cultivate and arrange nature however and wherever it liked, rather than leave places truly free of human influence."[46]
[edit] Recreation
Recreation, which is close to entertainment and pleasure, does not benefit the welfare of the zoo animals, but that of the zoo visitors. Jamieson points out that "we should have the honesty to recognize that zoos are for us rather than for the animals".[60] According to Swiss zoologist Heini Hediger recreation is one of the most important aims of the modern zoo in the face of proceeding urbanization and alienation from nature. People, especially from urbanized areas, should be given the opportunity to relax and to enjoy a naturalistic environment in their very neighbourhood.[61]
[edit] Education
Since the beginning of the modern zoological gardens education and therefore the propagation of biological knowledge has been one of the most prominent aims claimed by zoo professionals. Already in 1829, London Zoo published its first guide to the zoo.[62] Today’s educational efforts of zoos concentrate mostly on ecological and conservation issues. The idea of conservation education at zoos has a longer history than it is often acknowledged. This idea was foremost among the goals of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum as it was planned in the early 1950s. Animal exhibits were one component of the museum, which was begun with the goal of educating the public about the plant life and scenic value of the desert. Although the museum's focus was regional, and it was not a traditional zoo, directors of many American zoos looked to it as a model.[63] Many zoos now have an education department, a classroom, and full time educational officers. Edinburgh Zoo has pioneered a scheme called "interlink" which combines the resources of the zoo, local museums, and the botanical gardens to create educational courses. Like several other zoos it offers teachers a range of courses from day trips with infants to intensive courses for advanced students. In 1991, over 50,000 students were involved with structured courses at Edinburgh Zoo.[64] However, critics say that there is no educational value in exhibiting wild animals in artificial environments. According to them true respect for wildlife could only be stimulated by learning about animals in their natural habitat.[65]
[edit] Research
Classical zoological gardens played a role in research in comparative anatomy and physiology in the nineteenth century.[66] Important scientists, such as Cuvier, Alfred Brehm and Paul Matschie, used zoos for their studies. [50]
As early as 1859 the Frankfurt Zoo published the journal Der Zoologische Garten (The Zoological Garden) as a public forum for scientific research and experience at zoos. [67]
Oskar Heinroth, the director of the aquarium at the Berlin Zoological Gardens during the early decades of the twentieth century, coined the word ethology and was the first to articulate its general mission: a scientific study of animal behavior that would operate through comparative methods, like the already well-established of comparative anatomy. [68]
Beginning in 1934, the brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck, two German directors of the Berlin and Munich Zoos respectively, did indeed experiment in "back-breeding" two species of extinct European ungulate: the aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the tarpan (Equus gmelini). [69]
Heini Hediger developed zoo biology as a special branch of biology. Zoo biology translates the ideas and perceptions of others sciences into the practice of zoological garden management and gives stimulus to the use of zoo research in other sciences. [50]
Contemporary research efforts focus on ethology and conservation breeding. According to William Conway zoo science would contribute basic biological information and technological know-how to the increasingly demanding tasks of wildlife care in constricted habitats.[70]
[edit] Conservation
Up to now, only a few species such as the Przewalski’s Horse[71], the American Bison, or the