Defining issues of space in zoos

The amount of space available to animals in zoos is always limited by a range of factors that has little to do with animal biology. Most zoos exist on confined sites, their absolute boundaries are usually fixed. The starting point in a discussion about an animal's perceived needs is necessarily immediately to be considered in terms of other demands on the space available. Nonetheless, a detailed scientific understanding of the wild biology of a species has come to be regarded as essential to the determination of what constitutes appropriate captive conditions of zoos for that species. An examination of how zoos have confined animals through the last 2 centuries shows a trend away from the closest forms of confinement in cages, toward larger spaces, often with open viewing for visitors. Elephants represent an anomaly. They continue to be maintained in zoos according to traditions involving extraordinarily close human control, as if they were working animals. Looking at traditional captive elephant management practices, however, does not provide any reasonably complete view of elephant needs. Wild biology suggests that zoo elephants should enjoy a naturalistic social life and live more independently than they traditionally have done in zoos. For this, zoo elephants need far more extensive living spaces than those with which they are currently provided.