SciPak

Learning From Captivity: Zoos Offer Insights on Conservation

Zoos have been instrumental in helping researchers develop management techniques and conservation strategies for threatened species around the world. However, raising wild populations in isolation remains a difficult task and the most effective conservation strategies tend to integrate approaches developed in zoos with those pioneered in the wild, according to Kent Redford and colleagues.

Read more about this research from the 30 November issue of Science here.

[Image courtesy of Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo; click the image for more information.]

Science Cover Flashback: 20 April 2001

Female African elephants and their dependent offspring live in matrilineal groups led by the oldest female, or matriarch. Research reveals that group members are dependent on the matriarch for their store of social knowledge. The removal of these key individuals, often targets for illegal hunters because of their large size, could have serious consequences for the conservation of this endangered species. See page 491.

[Photograph: K. McComb]

Anyone wishing to use the cover of Science must contact AAAS to request permission to do so.

To Boost Biodiversity, Keep Farmed and Wild Lands Separate

Protecting the largest possible area of natural habitats while growing food on the smallest possible area of farmland could be the best way to reconcile food production with conservation, researchers say. In the debate over how to preserve biodiversity, some experts argue for “land sharing,” in which land serves as both wildlife habitat and farmland for crops grown using wildlife-friendly farming methods. Other experts recommend “land sparing,” in which some land is set aside for conservation and some is used for high-yield farming.