Blog: Towards a transformation - evidence-based practice in zoos and aquariums

In this week's blog, Dr Andrew Bowkett (Paignton Zoo) joins scientists and Conservation Evidence to bring together evidence-based science to benefit zoological research and welfare:

Did you know that the effect of warthog-scented towels on exploratory behaviour in aardvarks has been tested at Detroit Zoo? Or that eleven separate studies have tested the effect of varying the proportion of fruit and vegetables in primate diets?

Imagine if all this information was available in one place! Now, thanks to funding from BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) we have created the first global database of scientific evidence for the effectiveness of husbandry and management interventions for wild animals under human care. This is a major step towards an evidence-based transformation in the zoo and aquarium community.

Decisions which ignore the best available evidence risk wasting money, compromising welfare, undermining public support and alienating funders. Evidence-based practice has transformed fields like medicine and aviation safety during the last century, and a growing movement aims to do the same for nature conservation (Sutherland 2022).

The Conservation Evidence group at the University of Cambridge has been working to integrate evidence into conservation practice for over two decades. Their website summarises evidence of the effectiveness of over 4,000 management actions, found from scanning over 1.2 million articles and report series in 17 languages (www.conservationevidence.com). Given the many potential conservation benefits of ex situ species management, Conservation Evidence has been working with staff based at Paignton Zoo and elsewhere to integrate the work of zoos and aquariums into their approach. In 2018, a synopsis of evidence for the Management of Captive Animals was published, but only covers three specific topics.

The most recent outcome of this partnership has been a database cataloguing available evidence for all interventions across all non-domestic animal species held by zoos and aquariums, funded by BIAZA and published in the Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research (Martin et al. 2025). We refer to this database as an evidence map as it lays out the findings of over 1,000 scientific studies looking at the success or failure of husbandry options in more than 600 species. To find and categorise these studies we used the systematic methods developed by Conservation Evidence (Sutherland et al 2019).

Our evidence map allows zoo professionals to complement their own knowledge and experience by checking the searchable spreadsheet for scientific studies testing their planned intervention. It does not yet summarise the findings of these studies (i.e. whether the intervention worked or not) or evaluate the combined outcomes of multiple studies. These following stages would be undertaken as part of a synopsis like those already freely available for a wide range of other conservation topics on the Conservation Evidence website. This synopsis, or perhaps synopses, would update and massively expand the scope of the existing captive animal management synopsis from 2018.

The synthesis of over 1,000 studies is a mighty task! Even with rapid developments in artificial intelligence, it may take several years and will involve suitably trained scientists dedicated to the job. So, there will be an initial cost, but the ultimate savings gained from managing zoo and aquarium collections based on the best available evidence will be vast.

Anyone interested in supporting this transformation should contact Rebecca Smith at Conservation Evidence.

Andrew Bowkett, Paignton Zoo

Thomas Martin, Operation Wallacea

Anaëlle Lemasson, University of Plymouth

Silviu Petrovan, Rebecca Smith [email protected] and William Sutherland, Conservation Science Group, University of Cambridge

References

Hamilton, J. et al. (2020) Evaluation of the impact of behavioral opportunities on four zoo-housed aardvarks (Orycteropus afer). Animals 10: 1443 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081433

Martin, T.E. et al. (2025) Husbandry and management interventions for the conservation and welfare of captive animals – a systematic evidence map. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 13: 152-163 http://doi.org/10.19227/jzar.v13i3.837

Sutherland, W.J. et al. (2019) Building a tool to overcome barriers in the research-implementation space: the Conservation Evidence database. Biological Conservation 238: 108199.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108199

Sutherland, W.J. (2022) Transforming Conservation: A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making. Open Book Publishers, UK Transforming Conservation: A Practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making | Open Book Publishers

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not necessarily a reflection of BIAZA's position