Do zoos that keep primates have responsibility to educate human evolution?

La Cucaracha

La Cucaracha

Well-Known Member
The first thing creationists say is "Evolution is just a theory." Any science literate person knows the word they're looking for is hypothesis. Denying evolution is wrong.

Do zoos that keep gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, lemurs, etc have a responsibility to educate the public about the role of humans in evolution, or is it better for them to lay low to avoid losing religious demographics?
 
Creationism is marginal to non-existent outside the U.S.

But better people to teach about evolution would be agricultural engineers and doctors - because they cope with evolution in real life (crop pests, viruses and cancer cells).
 
I find it interesting in that the UK government and the Christian religion still to this day are quite intertwined. Public primary schools are still required to have a worship of 'broadly christian nature' by law.... which obviously I have some opinions regarding.
But what I find interesting is that even so; less than 20% of the UK is creationist. Though I do think that primary school [or at least the many faith-based ones] plants the seeds for such an idea to take root.
 
There are a lot of possible educational goals for a zoo exhibit, and while I think zoos have a responsibility to educate about animals, I don't think there is a right or wrong subject to focus on. While evolution is one topic zoos could educate about, a zoo with primates could just as easily not mention evolution, but do an excellent job educating on conservation issues, adaptations, behavior, and physiology. That said, I don't think educating about evolution should only happen with primates. Some other species kept in zoos are perfect for educational goals about evolution- for instance African cichlids which underwent adaptive radiation.
 
I don't think zoos with primates have any responsibility to teach human evolution. It's an extremely common subject. They are free to try and teach it if they want, but do they have to? No. They can do whatever they want.

The way I see it, zoos have more of a responsibility to teach about there here and now - what species are alive today, and the various extensions of that idea. Prehistoric stuff is the role of museums.
 
Even when the only zoo in the U.K. to take a public position on creationism was signing it etc there’s no evidence it converted anyone. Nor did it create that much excitement beyond a few press articles. So it’s a bit ‘so what’ for me.

I don’t think zoos have a duty to teach evolution - it will be something that often naturally comes up in primate signage however if zoos want it to.

I can’t get excited about creationists myself but then I don’t live in the US. I don’t however feel a need to see every institution rail against creationists - creationists are not going to respond to logical argument or they wouldn’t dispute evolution in the first place and evolution is a curriculum subject for schools here.

I’d also say it’s worth being a bit cautious generally about deciding other peoples views are wrong and should be suppressed - anti zoo people would say the same and behave like that and speaking for myself I’d say it’s better to prefer the higher ground.
 
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