Welcome to Our New Blog Series, Conservation Inside the Zoo!
The Zoo New England Conservation Team always aims to keep you informed on our conservation efforts beyond the zoo, but what about the conservation happening right here on zoo grounds? We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new blog series, “Conservation Inside the Zoo”! Each month, we will share behind-the-scenes stories, habitat and enrichment specifics, as well as our ongoing projects, that highlight our conservation efforts happening directly within our very own zoos.
While you can expect this series to provide you with all of the day-to-day and big picture conservation stories happening on site, we wanted to first introduce you to the foundation of our zoo’s on-ground conservation efforts. Conservation is a multifaceted concept that includes a wide range of activities and disciplines, each aimed at preserving and protecting our natural world. Conservation, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, refers to the careful preservation and protection of something, particularly through the planned management of natural resources to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect. This concept is applicable across various disciplines. It ranges from energy conservation, involving actions like turning off lights when not in use, to environmental conservation, which encompasses practices like recycling and reducing meat consumption. Of course, our focus is wildlife conservation, which in its entirety is preserving and protecting animals, plants, and habitats. Our goal with this series is to inform you about the actions our organization takes to conserve wildlife within the walls of both of our zoos.
The animals in our care at both Franklin Park and Stone Zoo function as ambassadors to their wild brethren, providing us with an opportunity to talk about the threats these animals face, and how the conservation work we are supporting is helping to protect and recover them in the wild. Wildlife populations all across the globe face decline from varying threats such as climate change, habitat loss, or poaching. Captive populations that exist within zoos can also serve as an insurance population, which can keep the species from extinction and even help return the species to the wild once threats are dealt with. Zoo New England is an active participant in a number of Species Survival Plans (SSP), aimed at managing and conserving threatened or endangered animal populations. In cooperation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), each SSP carefully manages the breeding of species in zoos and aquariums by maintaining population records, breeding, and transfer plans. This ensures the maintenance of genetically healthy and demographically stable captive populations. Zoos provide an opportunity to do research and observe behaviors or patterns of species in ways we simply cannot in the wild. Through this we can gain a deeper understanding of a species physiology and behavior, building a foundation of knowledge that enable us to provide better conservation in the wild
While many species in zoological care are managed through these Species Survival Plan (SSP) programs to maintain genetically diverse populations, genetic research aimed at improving zoo animal population health has been limited. In collaboration with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Zoo New England established The Center for Zoonomics, which integrates conservation and medical genomics to improve human, animal and ecosystem health. Zoonomics seeks to address challenges in conducting genetic health studies in zoo animal populations to improve animal health, and work as a catalyst for progress in animal health genetics.
As an AZA accredited organization, our zoos not only meet the highest standards in animal care, but we passionately uphold scientific research, education, and conservation programs. Over 2,500 conservation projects in more than 100 countries are funded by AZA accredited zoos and aquariums, spending an average of $160 million on conservation initiatives annually.
The local and international conservation you read about every week here on our blog is possible thanks to the animals in our care at Franklin Park and Stone Zoo. We look forward to introducing them to you in this coming series!