Zoo Sphere: The need for a new model

For the past 50 years zoos and aquariums have been defined by the pillars of Conservation, Education, Research, and Recreation (Conway 1969). However, these pillars no longer reflect the multifaceted and wide-ranging services that conservation zoos provide today. We discuss why understanding the role of zoos is important, and how using the Zoo Sphere of Influence Model can help.

So why does understanding the role of zoos matter?

It matters because, we are currently in a climate crisis where unprecedented weather events are becoming more common. This is pushing humans and wildlife closer together and creates increased pressures and conflicts. Habitat loss through urbanisation and deforestation along with the illegal trade in wildlife pose additional threats to species.

Zoos and aquariums play a crucial role in the protection of species and their habitats, including through conservation breeding, education, habitat restoration, research, and species releases.

In addition, zoos play a vital role in society, not only through educating visitors about threats facing the planet, but by enabling access to nature and blue/green spaces. Zoos are a site for family connections, conduct important research, employ local people, model sustainable behaviours, and contribute funds to conservation and to the economy. In addition, they provide a valuable voice in conservation policy, and can help support the development of sustainable businesses.

However, if zoos' roles are not understood they are under-represented and under-valued. This was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic when zoos were one of the last groups to receive support or be allowed to reopen to the public. This was despite zoos being primarily outdoor venues, and despite strong evidence to suggest that spending time amongst nature is beneficial to both physical and mental health.

Although other organisations and NGOs can offer similar activities and fulfil similar roles, zoos are uniquely placed to offer all of these in one place.

Conservation, Education, Research and Recreation

For the past 50 years the roles of zoos have been represented by the pillars of Conservation, Education, Research and Recreation. This view of zoos, created by Conway in the late 1960s, was revolutionary at the time and helped zoos move forward in their mission. But it is now outdated and doesn’t represent the wide range of roles that conservation zoos fulfil today.

Of course, pillars could be added, for example it has been suggested that wellbeing should be considered as an extra pillar/role of zoos (Rose and Riley, 2022). However, we cannot indefinitely add more and more pillars.

Further, the concept of a pillars model creates the impression that zoos stand alone, separate from the rest of society, when in reality they are connected with each other and embedded in communities. The final issue with the existing pillars model is that conservation is represented as a separate pillar. In the modern conservation zoo, the concept of conservation underpins everything and should not be seen as separate or as an after-thought.

The Zoo Sphere of Influence

The Zoo Sphere of Influence Model was proposed in January 2023 as a new representation for the role of conservation zoos (Spooner et al. 2023). A zoo, or group of zoos can be placed in the middle of the model with their level of influence radiating outwards. In contrast to the pillars representation, the Zoo Sphere presents zoos as being interconnected with other zoos and with society more broadly. A zoo's impact is considered at local, national, and international scales.

The model is organised into wedges representing the areas zoos focus on. The initial paper presented 7 wedges including: Species & Habitat Conservation, Education & Training, Scientific Research, Public Health & Wellbeing, Conservation Finance, Economy, and Policy. However, this has been developed further throughout 2023 and is set to include Sustainability, Indigenous Relations, and Diversity, Equity, Access, & Inclusion as wedges in the next iteration (due 2024).

The model has an additional ace in that it is not just a visualisation. The authors are developing a set of criteria behind each of the wedges so that the Zoo Sphere can be used as an impact assessment tool.

The authors are currently finalising updates to the model and associated assessment tool including testing it at several global zoos. It is hoped that the tool will be available for general use by mid 2024.

Visit the Zoo Sphere Website

The original article by Spooner et al. 2023 can be found below:

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