The Future of Zoos

The Future of Zoos
13-02-2012

This symposium took place in Buffalo, NY this weekend. Any thoughts to this article or predictions?

Picturing zoos of future: Dodo birds, but no chimps - City of Buffalo - The Buffalo News

13-02-2012

No, I don't think many of those predictions come true.
Will not happen until 2050:
- cloned extinct species will NOT be common sight in zoos
- apes will NOT be granted personhood
- there will NOT be trend to more expansive zoos
The only think I will happen that urban zoos will have even more visitors

What I predict:
- there will be more public interactions between animals and visitors and keepers
- Europe and North America will be in crisis and have no funds to build as many great exhibits as in 2000s, and will cease to be the best place for zoos
- best zoos will be in Asia
- there will be fewer species kept
- many species will be unobtainable
- species obtainable in captivity will breed so easily, that getting animals will not be a problem - getting money to present them will
- there will appear a group of private collections for the extra-rich people.

best,

13-02-2012

I think that cloned/resurrected species will most likely be on display in some way, shape, or form by then. Would that be in zoos? Perhaps not, we are yet to encounter the greatest challenges that the cloning of such animals will raise.

Affording the Great Apes personhood could solve or help many problems associated with their survival, but it is of little use if it is not recognized internationally, and the chances of such are slim to none. It might also create legal issues relative to further research into them and rehabilitation. Orangutans especially are in a critical situation right now, at least something more must be done to protect them in the wild.

Greater awareness of animal rights and the pressure it brings to bear upon institutions will probably lead to better care for captive animals in general, I don't believe it will necessarily be propagated by a shift to more expansive zoos. More factors count than just area.

Asia may well have the best zoos by then, but only relative to population density and size. As we have found in the past, just because nations industrialize faster than developed nations did in the past, it doesn't mean they will attain a greater level of development at the end of it(see Japan).

13-02-2012

I can see elephants not only being exhibited in park-sized zoos as the article states, but also only in warmer climates. The cloning thing is a bit off.

16-02-2012

I only skim-read the article, but it seems too many people with various agendas to be truly meaningful. I mean, IDA is 100% anti-zoo and wants to see them all closed (and is currently in the first stage of their plan by trying to get elephants out of zoos). Why are they invited to a symposium about the future of zoos? David Hancocks is a zoo insider, but based on his book his opinions are a bit eccentric to put it euphemistically. If I remember correctly (which I may or may not be), he actually suggests building zoos with video games instead of live animals?

And one person says zoos will get bigger while another says zoos will get smaller and split up into multiple locations around the city. As with any topic (not just zoos), no one really knows what the future holds. However, I think the response from Jurek7 is spot on.

16-02-2012

I was thinking the same thing. Also, I think a lot of times in a symposium such as this some people will throw out oversensationalized ideas to spark controversy and make headlines. That being said I admire and respect many of the presenters and wish I would have been able to attend. Maybe next time they will have one closer to my neck of the woods. Was anyone here able to attend? If so, could they provide a brief synopsis? It seems like in most of the articles I was able to find about it only gave accounts from a few presenters rather than giving a true general overview.

16-02-2012

The whole thing about cloned animals seems unlikely unless some billionaire is obsessive about cloning himself a mammoth.

I think that zoos will become much more involved in wildlife conservation through sponsoring monitoring and censuses of the wild cousins of their inhabitants. They will figure out ways to make this science interesting and relevant to their visitors and build it into their exhibits.

Hopefully most of the outdated grottoes and cages across the zoo world will go away and zoos will stop displaying animals that they can't adequately provide homes for, no matter how popular the species. The elephants are on the leading edge of this. I would predict that great apes and bears are next, followed perhaps by big cats, giraffes, and hippos. Probably a lot of zoos will have fewer species in much better exhibits. Hopefully regional zoos will find ways to complement their collections so that elephants, polar bears, gorillas, etc. they can't be kept by multiple zoos like they once were will still be available to most people within a reasonable geographic distance.

Technology like smart phone apps will be built into zoo exhibits and displays, making them increasingly interactive.

"Future Of Zoos" Papers
21-04-2012

Zoolex has published three of the papers given suring the symposium:

In February, zoo designers and ZooLex editors David Hancocks, Jon Coe and Monika Fiby were invited to present their visions and discuss the future of zoos at a symposium in Buffalo, New York. Here are Monika's impressions of the symposium:

http://www.zoolex.org/publication/fi...s_summary.html

Here are links to the papers, that our three editors prepared on the topics that they presented at the symposium:

Design and Architecture: Third Generation Conservation, Post- Immersion and Beyond by Jon Coe (download 1,2 MB):
http://www.zoolex.org/publication/co...ecture2012.pdf

Managed Exchanges of Specimens with Wild Populations by Monika Fiby (download 1,5 MB):
http://www.zoolex.org/publication/fi...imals_fiby.pdf

Beyond the Animal: Exhibiting and Interpreting Nature by David Hancocks (download 35 KB) http://www.zoolex.org/publication/ha...cocks_2012.pdf

23-04-2012

Thanks for posting those Zooplantman, all three were very interesting reads, especially the one by David Hancocks.

23-04-2012

Some thoughts:

One trend will be wild animals living in transformed landscape with high human density, because truly wild habitat is too small to accomodate them. This is seen in India, and quickly becomes the reality in Europe and USA.

Zoos they consider in isolation, while they are part of wide world. For example, isn't it a folly to care about welfare of zoo elephants and apes, when wild elephants and apes are slaughtered en masse?

Techno-zoos, virtual zoos, internet application in zoos etc. are overblown trend. It goes against the desire of authenticity in seeing animals. And, indeed, internet and virtual experiences are best consumed at home, without visiting a zoo or indeed, without the need of live animals actually existing. It is theoretically possible outcome that all wild animals are extinct, but people enjoy everyday beautiful computer-generated wildlife films and simulations.

Economic split between relatively poor majority and very rich minority can create two kinds of zoos. There will be zoos for masses, where low cost is a major factor, and elite zoos costing $100-$200 to visit, where probably one can pet and feed animals, have personal zoologist guide etc.

Some expensive zoo visions likely will never happen, because of economic growth will not support them. There may exist technology to clone extinct animals, but no resources to actualy do it.

A better indicator Of The Future Of Zoos?
24-04-2012

A marketing firm surveyed all AZA zoos and drew some interesting conclusions.
Now these have little to do with what animals will be at future zoos, but I find it interesting just what sorts of things these marketers focused on.

http://zoodesign.files.wordpress.com...eport-2011.pdf

This may be a better indicator of some short term trends than the speculations of the symposium speakers. Nothing we didn't know, of course, but here it is spelled out

24-04-2012

Thanks Zooplantman. That was quite an interesting article.

I think zoos will follow a similar path to football in the UK, where a fortune is paid for some players, who get more in a month than most working people get for 50 years. Also, clubs pay hundreds of millions of pounds for new stadia etc and charge entrance fees that take a big chunk out of many peoples take home pay.

Compare this with many zoos that have become very expensive for families, who are often faced with overpriced food and a wide range of attractions for children that require parents to shell out even more money. Many zoos are spending millions of pounds on new buildings for their superstars. The same zoos then pretend that this is helping to stop these elite animals from becoming extinct, even though there's little or no chance of the elite animals going back to the wild.

Apart from a few zoos like Plzen, there is a trend for zoos to cut the number of species they hold, with casualties tending to be less popular animals. Zoos should be saving as many species as possible, but some animals are more equal than others.

25-04-2012

The revenue article was very interesting, but I have two questions.

1) What in the world is a "flying banana" ride?

2) What exactly is entailed in the $49 bat experience?

I was also very surprised to find there are 16 AZA institutions with full service sit-down restaurants. I personally only know of three (Arizona Sonora Desert Musuem, Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, San Diego Zoo).

15-10-2012

The complete symposium can be found online at

Future of Zoos

03-12-2012

And continuing the conversation:

Former AZA Director/William Conway Chair of Conservation & Science Discusses the State of Zoos & their Future – News Watch