Zoo Animal Lifespans: What Animals Are Most Likely and Least Likely To Thrive in Zoos?
Examination of Median Life Expectancy of 330 Animal Species in Zoos
Can wild animals thrive in zoos? This is a much debated question with many arguments both pro-zoo animal conservation and anti-zoo animal conservation. Zoos are enrichment-filled environments that allow people to learn and engage with wildlife as well as protect the livelihood of wildlife, but is taking an animal out of its natural habitat ever a progressive choice for an animal species? This question has many points of view, so I want to provide some insight on what animals do the best and worst at zoos based off of median lifespan statistics from samples of 330 animal species that have existed in zoos between 2010–2018. I will use median animal life expectancy as a representation of what animals are prospering or dying out in zoos to provide an awareness of animals that do well in zoos and those that do not. Additionally, I will recommend the best genders of certain species of animals to exist in a zoo setting.
For my data analyses, I created a Median Life Expectancy of 330 Animal Species dashboard with median life expectancy statistics. The dashboard shows the average overall median life expectancy of 5 taxonomy classes that most of the 330 animal species in the dataset fall within, the eight species in the dataset with the lowest median life expectancy in zoos separated by gender and overall statistics, and the top ten species in the dataset with the highest median life expectancy in zoos separated by gender and overall statistics. To follow along with the dashboard (and hover over values) go to https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/james.stipanowich/viz/ZooAnimalLifespansStatistics/MedianLifeExpectancyMLEStatisticsFor330ZooAnimalSpecies.
The data for my dashboard came from a Zoo Animal Lifespans dataset at https://data.world/animals/zoo-animal-lifespans. The data embodies 330 animal species that have existed in ex situ conservation settings in zoos. Ex situ conservation settings means animals were taken out of their natural habitat as a means to protect them and placed in an artificial zoo habitat similar to their natural habitat with care from humans. The data I used is affiliated with the Alexander Center for Applied Population Biology at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The median life expectancy values in the data represent thousands of animals in Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) member institutions and other institutions that collaborated with the AZA between 2010–2018. The smallest sample size of an animal species was for the female Madagascar Buttonquail with 41 samples and the largest sample size of an animal species was for the male Caribbean Flamingo with 1,425. The mean sample size across species was 254 samples for males and 242 samples for females. The animals in the data have a diverse variety of life histories.
What animals should exist in zoos for the greatest potential life quality for a zoo as a whole?
What Taxonomy Classes of Animal Species Had the Highest and Lowest Average Median Life Expectancies?
One aspect of an animal species is their taxonomy class. All animals fall into different taxonomy classes that have distinct animal characteristics associated with them. The median life expectancy is different for each taxonomy class. A zoo may prosper with more animals from some taxonomy classes than others. I identified the taxonomy classes with the highest and lowest average median life expectancy on my dashboard as follows:
By hovering over the bubbles on the dashboard bubble chart or selecting a taxonclass from the “Select a Taxonclass:” menu, Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous fish), Mammalia (Mammals), and Aves (Birds) were found to have the highest average overall median life expectancies of the taxonomy classes with 16.4 years, 14.71 years, and 12.2 years respectively. Reptilia (Reptiles) and Amphibia (Amphibians) were found to have the lowest average overall median life expectancies of the taxonomy classes with 11.63 years and 5.37 years respectively. Chrondrichthyes, Mammalia, and Aves have a probability of surviving longer in a zoo than Reptilia or Amphibia.
Note: By hovering over the bubbles on the bubble chart, counts of the number of the 330 animal species from the dataset that fall under each taxonomy category can be seen. There were only 2 Chrondrichthyes animal species (the Ocellated River Stingray and the Sand Tiger Shark) out of the 330 animal species in the dataset compared with 175 Mammalia animal species and 124 Aves animal species in the dataset. This data communicates the Chrondrichthyes data has great potential to be inaccurate when compared with the Mammalia and Aves taxonomy class data because it is on an extremely tiny scale compared with the other taxonomy classes.
What Animal Species Had the Lowest Median Life Expectancies? What Genders of These Species Lived Longer?
Animal species with low median life expectancies could die quickly in a zoo environment. Information on animal species with low median life expectancies provides insight to a zoo of where they may need more sustainability and can make improvements for the overall livelihood of the animals present in the zoo. The bottom 8 animal species with the lowest average overall median life expectancy in zoos from my data are shown on the dashboard by selecting the Avg. Overall Mle option and appear similar to the following sheet:
The four animal species with the average lowest overall median life expectancies are the Hooded Pitta, the Madagascar Buttonquail, the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko, and the Mossy Leaf-Tailed Gecko with overall median life expectancies of 3.2 years, 3.2 years, 2.5 years, and 2.4 years respectively.
The genders of the Hooded Pitta, the Madagascar Buttonquail, the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko, and the Mossy Leaf-Tailed Gecko that have higher median life expectancies are all males. This evaluation was determined by scrutinizing the following visualization of the whole view of the same Bottom 8 Species With Lowest Overall Median Life Expectancy (MLE) sheet:
The blue male gender bars for the Hooded Pitta, the Madagascar Buttonquail, the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko, and the Mossy Leaf-Tailed Gecko are longer than the pink female gender bars and display median life expectancy values of 3.7 years, 3.3 years, 2.8 years, and 2.6 years respectively.
What Animal Species Had the Highest Median Life Expectancies? What Genders of These Species Lived Longer?
Animal species with high median life expectancies could live longer at a zoo and be model animals when defining what animals a zoo should contain. Information on animal species with a high median life expectancy provides an understanding for a zoo of where animals are thriving in the zoo. The top 10 animal species with the highest average overall median life expectancy in zoos from my data are shown on the dashboard by selecting the Avg. Overall Mle option and appear similar to the following sheet:
The four animal species with the average highest overall median life expectancies are the Andean Condor, the Asian Elephant, the Chimpanzee, and the African Elephant with overall median life expectancies of 47 years, 42 years, 36.3 years, and 36.3 years respectively.
The gender of the Andean Condor that has a higher median life expectancy is male. The genders of the Asian Elephant, the Chimpanzee, and the African Elephant that have higher median life expectancies are all females. This evaluation was determined by scrutinizing the following visualization of the whole view of the same Top 10 Species With Highest Overall Median Life Expectancy (MLE) sheet:
The blue male gender bar for the Andean Condor is longer than the pink female gender bar for the Andean Condor and displays a male median life expectancy value of 51.3 years. The pink female gender bars for the Asian Elephant, the Chimpanzee, and the African Elephant are longer than the blue male gender bars and display female median life expectancy values of 43.3 years, 40 years, and 38 years respectively.
How to Create a Thriving Zoo Based on Animal Lifespan Statistics
There is a lot of discussion about whether wild animals can thrive in zoos. Zoos create an environment for animal development and safety, but with ex situ conservation can animals effectively prosper outside of their natural environment? There is not a correct response to this question but here are my analyses and proposals for a thriving zoo life environment:
- Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous fish), Mammalia (Mammals), and Aves (Birds) have a higher average median life expectancy than Reptilia (Reptiles) or Amphibia (Amphibians). Include more animal species that fall under the Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous fish), Mammalia (Mammals), and Aves (Birds) taxonomy classes and less animal species that fall under the Reptilia (Reptiles) or Amphibia (Amphibians) taxonomoy classes in zoos because zoo animals have greater potential to live longer overall under these zoo conditions.
- Include less animals of the animal species of the Hooded Pitta, the Madagascar Buttonquail, the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko, and the Mossy Leaf-Tailed Gecko in zoos because these animals have the lowest average overall median life expectancy of the 330 animal species analyzed in zoos. These animal species appear less fit to survive under the conditions a zoo environment instigates. If these animal species must be made a part of a zoo, choose male versions of these species because they have been determined as having greater median life expectancy than female versions for these species.
- Comprise a zoo of a lot of the animal species of the Andean Condor, the Asian Elephant, the Chimpanzee, and the African Elephant because these animals have the highest average overall median life expectancy of the 330 animals species inspected in zoos. These animal species seem to flourish in zoo environments and may profit from a zoo environment as opposed to a natural environment. The best versions of these species to include in a zoo are male Andean Condors, female Asian Elephants, female Chimpanzees, and female African Elephants because they have greater median life expectancies than their opposite gender versions.
While some circumstances prosper life in a zoo and some circumstances damage life in a zoo, hopefully zoos of the future inspire more of the prosperous kind. Design a world where zoos can not only survive, but thrive.
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