ABOUT THIS BOOK

Scores of wild species and ecosystems around the world face a variety of human-caused threats, from habitat destruction and fragmentation to rapid climate change. But there is hope, and it, too, comes in a most human form: zoos and aquariums. Gathering a diverse, multi-institutional collection of leading zoo and aquarium scientists as well as historians, philosophers, biologists, and social scientists, The Ark and Beyond traces the history and underscores the present role of these organizations as essential conservation actors. It also offers a framework for their future course, reaffirming that if zoos and aquariums make biodiversity conservation a top priority, these institutions can play a vital role in tackling conservation challenges of global magnitude.

While early menageries were anything but the centers of conservation that many zoos are today, a concern with wildlife preservation has been an integral component of the modern, professionally run zoo since the nineteenth century. From captive breeding initiatives to rewilding programs, zoos and aquariums have long been at the cutting edge of research and conservation science, sites of impressive new genetic and reproductive techniques. Today, their efforts reach even further beyond recreation, with educational programs, community-based conservation initiatives, and international, collaborative programs designed to combat species extinction and protect habitats at a range of scales. Addressing related topics as diverse as zoo animal welfare, species reintroductions, amphibian extinctions, and whether zoos can truly be “wild,” this book explores the whole range of research and conservation practices that spring from zoos and aquariums while emphasizing the historical, scientific, and ethical traditions that shape these efforts. Also featuring an inspiring foreword by the late George Rabb, president emeritus of the Chicago Zoological Society / Brookfield Zoo, The Ark and Beyond illuminates these institutions’ growing significance to the preservation of global biodiversity in this century.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ben A. Minteer holds the Arizona Zoological Society Endowed Chair in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He is coeditor most recently of After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Jane Maienschein is university professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and fellow and director of the History and Philosophy of Science Project at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She is coeditor most recently of Visions of Cell Biology: Reflections Inspired by Cowdry’s “General Cytology,” also in the Convening Science series and published by the University of Chicago Press. Maienschein is the 2024 recipient of the Sarton Medal, the most prestigious award of the History of Science Society, presented annually to an outstanding historian of science to honor a lifetime of scholarly achievement. James P. Collins is the Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Natural History and the Environment in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He is coauthor of Extinction in Our Times: Global Amphibian Decline.

REVIEWS

“The role of zoos and aquariums is constantly evolving, particularly as there is pressure to increase their contribution to conservation. This collection ably shows that zoos and aquariums are not a flotilla of little arks that have to be self-sufficient. Rather, we should be better grounded in the social fabric of our communities, better networked, and better connected to the animals outside our walls.”

— Jenny Gray, CEO of Zoos Victoria, Australia, and president of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

“The Ark and Beyond is essential reading for anyone interested in our tangled and evolving relationship with zoos and aquariums. At the zoo we find ourselves at the shifting borderland between the wild and the walled. This book’s editors and contributors explore that territory, bringing together decades of practical and theoretical expertise in conservation biology, history, and education. Their insights will deeply inform and benefit readers wrestling with the complex questions we find ourselves asking when we lock eyes with our kindred creatures.”

— Curt Meine, Aldo Leopold Foundation & Center for Humans and Nature

“In an age of extinction, ‘wild’ places are increasingly being managed like zoos. What role do actual zoos and aquariums have to play? The Ark and Beyond looks at this question from all angles; the result is both informative and thought-provoking.”

— Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History"

"Issues such as zoo animal protection and species reintroduction, but also the question of whether zoos really can be 'wild,' are illuminated in this book in terms of the full range of research and conservation practices of zoos and aquariums."

— Tiergarten

"To familiarize yourself with the efforts of the best of these animal havens is to understand that they work with sincerity and some urgency to try to understand and save endangered species, while also navigating public expectations and budgetary pressures. In other words, they operate in 'powerful ethical rapids,' in the words of the editor of The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, an eye-opening new book from the University of Chicago Press."

— Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune

“A valuable contribution to existing literature, not only by illustrating the earliest roots of contemporary conservation strategies that, although substantially distinct from ex situ conservation in the twenty-first century, nonetheless reveals deep roots to a phenomenon that is often considered to be very recent indeed. Featuring contributions from a broad array of international scholars and ranging across time and space, the collection represents a thorough articulation of the fluid histories, challenges, and futures of zoo- and aquarium-based conservation. . . . Engaging, accurate, and concise, the collection succeeds in communicating stories of complex pasts, presents, and futures in accessible form and to multiple audiences. Indeed, this work has much to say to historians, bioscientists, geographers, zoologists, and zoo management alike.”

— Andrew Flack, University of Bristol, Environmental History

"A remarkably thorough account of zoo and aquarium conservation. . . . Highly balanced. . . . Anyone who has visited a zoo or aquarium, and wondered whether its educational and conservation benefits outweigh its costs in terms of potentially diminished animal well-being, will find this book captivating."

— Miles A. Powell, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Journal of the History of Biology

"Aquaria and zoos are sometimes a cause of concern for those anxious about animal welfare, but now they are making an increasingly important contribution to the survival of endangered species—as well as having an educational function. This book considers the history of the institutions, animal welfare, critical role in re-introduction programmes, how their practices and policies are evolving, and further their ethics and visions for the future."

— Biodiversity and Conservation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Foreword by George Rabb

Introduction/ Zoo and Aquarium Conservation: Past, Present, Future

Part 1. Protoconservation in Early European Zoos

1/ Animals in Circulation: The “Prehistory” of Modern Zoos

2/ The World as Zoo: Acclimatization in the Nineteenth Century

Part 2. The Rise of US Zoo and Aquarium Conservation in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

3/ Historic and Cultural Foundations of Zoo Conservation: A Narrative Timeline

4/ Teetering on the Brink of Extinction: The Passenger Pigeon, the Bison, and American Zoo Culture in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

5/ American Zoos: A Shifting Balance between Recreation and Conservation

6/ (Re)Introducing the Przewalski’s Horse

7/ Conservation Constellations: Aquariums in Aquatic Conservation Networks

Part 3. Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Today : Visions and Programs

8/ Committing to Conservation: Can Zoos and Aquariums Deliver on Their Promise?

9/ Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE): Unifying the Conservation Approach of AZA-Accredited Zoos and Aquariums

10/ Integrating Ex Situ Management Options as Part of a One Plan Approach to Species Conservation

11/ Zoos and Gorilla Conservation: Have We Moved beyond a Piecemeal Approach?

12/ Lessons from Thirty-One Years at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Reflections on Aquariums’ Expanding Role in Conservation Action

13/ The Phoenix Zoo Story: Building a Legacy of Conservation

Part 4. Caring for Nature: Welfare, Wellness , and Natural Connect Ions

14/ Bears or Butterflies? How Should Zoos Make Value-Driven Decisions about Their Collections?

15/ Why Zoos Have Animals: Exploring the Complex Pathway from Experiencing Animals to Pro-Environmental Behaviors

16/ People in the Zoo: A Social Context for Conservation

17/ From Sad Zoo to Happy Zoo: The Changing Animal Welfare and Conservation Priorities of the Seoul Zoo in South Korea

18/ Wildlife Wellness: A New Ethical Frontier for Zoos and Aquariums

19/ Zoos and Sustainability: Can Zoos Go beyond Ethical Individualism to Protect Resilient Systems?

Part 5. The Science and Challenge of the Conservat Ion Ark

20/ Opportunities and Challenges for Conserving Small Populations: An Emerging Role for Zoos in Genetic Rescue

21/ Cloning in the Zoo: When Zoos Become Parents

22/ Advancing Laboratory-Based Zoo Research to Enhance Captive Breeding of Southern White Rhinoceros

23/ Beyond the Walls: Applied Field Research for the Twenty-First-Century Public Aquarium and Zoo

24/ Frogs in Glass Boxes: Responses of Zoos to Global Amphibian Extinctions

Part 6. Alternative Models and Futures

25/ Sustaining Wildlife Populations in Human Care: An Existential Value Proposition for Zoos

26/ Reflections on Zoos and Aquariums and the Role of the Regional Biopark

27/ Today’s Awe-Inspiring Design, Tomorrow’s Plexiglas Dinosaur: How Public Aquariums Contradict Their Conservation Mandate in Pursuit of Immersive Underwater Displays

28/ Zoo Conservation Disembarks: Stepping off the Ark and into Global Sustainable Development

29/ Rewilding the Lifeboats

30/ The Parallax Zoo

Acknowledgments

Notes

References

Contributors

Index

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