Zoo statistics

amur leopard

amur leopard

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I guess I made this thread because I am planning to write an essay for the school magazine (it's a large school) about why zoos have a place in our society. However, I need statistics to back me up on this one: it sounds empty without them.

So does anyone have any (reliably sourced) zoo stats?

I'll post some of my own soon :)
Anything, from case studies on amphibians to surveys, is welcome.
 
You might want to narrow down the scope and provide some kind of focus. For one, you'll never be able to use "anything" for a school essay; there's just too much material out there for a relatively small task. Plus, if people don't know what you actually want, they'll be less able to help.

You could also put in here the points you want to make in the essay (again: focus), and see if anyone here can point you in the direction of stats to back those up though that would be a slightly back-to-front method of doing things.
 
I guess I was thinking along the lines of:

Introduction - why did zoos get created in the first place, and how their aims have changed. At the end, give the reasons why they exist now.
Middle section: a series of paragraphs explaining their current aims and how they fulfil them
Point 1: Conservation and funding for conservation (Examples of conservation successes ex-situ)
Point 2: Education for people
Point 3: Enjoyment and seeing animals they otherwise wouldn't see.
Point 4: Providing jobs and acting as a frontrunner for in-situ conservation.
Paragraph 5: What will happen to zoos in the future? Will they still have a role to play if the planet recovers?
Point 6: Arguments against PETA - how zoos are actually accommodating their animals and examples of fantastic exhibits.
Conclusion: Zoos are essential for the survival of species and their role cannot be replaced.

So I guess I would like conservation story stats (populations before and after), stats on how people learn from zoos, and other juicy numbers like that :D
I could also do with a few stats against zoos so I can argue against them but still be seen to have a two-sided views - essays shouldn't be too one-sided (although I would love it it if they could)

Thanks is advance
 
amur leopard said:
stats on how people learn from zoos, and other juicy numbers like that [...]
Click to expand...

It's not that easy, and the numbers are far from "juicy". The answers are not clear cut and most studies are very limited in their approach and scope. One study by Falk et al. (2007) provide a decent overview covering 12 zoos and thousants of visitors, though their study is not without flaws. The majority of papers I've read only deal with one or at best a few zoos, and sometimes even a single species or a single way of education.

I have small list of papers that may be interesting for you, and I can send you the full citations of several of them if you like. Just send me a message if you're interested and I'll see what I can do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top