PIXABAY, PSOUUWhen it comes to beating starvation and predation, the zoo is far safer for some mammals than the jungle, according to a November 7 study published in Nature Scientific Reports. After examining data on more than 50 mammalian species—including big cats, reindeer, and African buffalos—the researchers concluded that 80 percent of these mammals live longer in captivity than in the wild.
“Our findings indicate that, in general, a life in zoos allows mammals to live longer,” Morgane Tidière of the Université de Lyon in France and coauthors wrote in their study. “However, our data suggest that the species-specific pace of life influences the extent to which a given species may benefit from captivity.”
Tidière and colleagues compared four survival metrics—longevity, baseline mortality, onset of senescence, and rate of senescence—between free-range and captive mammals, based on existing data. They found that small prey mammals with shorter lifecycles benefitted most from zoos, which presumably protected them from predation. But they were surprised to find that “all 15 carnivore species in our dataset attained greater longevity at the zoo,” said study coauthor Marcus Clauss, a professor of biology at ...
