Many mammal populations in European and North American zoos are aging—a trend that jeopardizes the long-term viability of so-called reserve populations and, with it, a core mission of modern zoos in global species conservation. This is the central finding of a new international study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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I wonder what the underlying cause of this demographic shift is, and how they’ll handle it effectively. There’s usually only so many resources and subsidies to sustain these animals, so limits to growth will probably always be there. Just wondering how they’ll “get rid of” the older animals to make place for young ones.
