Facts About Animals In Captivity

We do know that common animals kept as pets include lions tigers cougars ocelots servals wolves bears alligators snakes and nonhuman primates like chimpanzees.

Facts about animals in captivity. Besides polar bears lions and tigers also have much less space than they would have if they were free about 18000 times less. Otherwise the animal would likely perish in the wild because of being unable to care for or defend themselves. Estimates suggest ten thousand large mammals are killed each year in european zoos alone never mind other animals.

Zoo animals are housed in mini-habitats which means they are living in enclosures that are as close to their natural habitats as possible. Animals in captivity are considered domesticated animals such as petslivestock and animals in zoosanimals used in testing. From birds to elephants animals are lovingly attached to their closest kin and when a separation occurs their hearts are broken.

Many wild animals in captivity even self-harm due to the frustration and boredom of constant confinement. Some species can see a reduction in their expected lifespan of 70 or more when they move from living in the wild to being in captivity. Liz Tyson the director of the Captive Animals Protection Society supports the journal Conservation Biology stating Zoos present an entirely false view of both the animals themselves and of the real and very urgent issues facing many speciesZoos do not educate nor do they empower or inspire childrenCaptive Animals Protection Society 2015.

Elephants in the wild have one of the largest home ranges often walking up to 40 miles each day. One of the most noticeable animal captivity facts is that most animals in zoos dont have nearly enough room. There is no wild animal census in the United States and many states have lax oversight so any estimates about the population of wild animals in captivity is at best an educated guess.

Sometimes humans take care of critically endangered animals and therefore these animals are in captivity. Maruyama Zoo in Japan unsuccessfully tried to mate a pair of hyenas between 2010 and 2014 before realizing they were both males. Elephants are not the only big mammals that require more space than they are given in captivity.

Many captive wild animals in zoos display stereotypic behaviour not seen in their wild cousins such as obsessively pacing or circling or frantic swaying on the spot. Animals in captivity display obsessive compulsive and stereotypic behaviours in addition to abnormal behaviours such as cannibalism and self-mutilation in more extreme cases as seen in animals farmed for food such as pigs and chickens. After all intelligence does not a self-aware individual make.