About this Research Topic
This Research Topic is the first volume of the ‘Community Series: The Science and Practice of Captive Animal Welfare’. Please see the second volume here.
Captive animals in public aquariums, sanctuaries, zoological parks and other settings enlighten and inspire visitors when they are exhibited in well-designed, naturalistic, landscapes of sufficient size and complexity. An emerging science of animal welfare generated a corpus of evidence driving best practices and higher standards so animals in human care thrive. Modern facilities, based on scientific principles, encourage animals to interact, explore, choose, and solve problems. Under the best of conditions, animals thrive. Psychologists, managers, curators, keepers, veterinarians, and architects are working together to create optimal living spaces that functionally simulate nature. This volume seeks to publish empirical studies of enriched environments and/or practices and documented outcomes for a diversity of species. Empirical institutions committed to intervention promise a dynamic new era of continuing reform and revitalization. Manuscripts that describe a culture of creative design and management, and those that provide new metrics are especially encouraged. We welcome original contributions that explore both physical and psychological features of design, exhibition, and husbandry. Especially welcome are findings that facilitate individual autonomy and resilience, and evidence-based methods of intervention that promote health and wellness. Authors may also submit papers that identify urgent strategies and tactics to mitigate aging hardscapes when resources for reform are scarce. Finally, contributions that address the need for empirically based decision making in protocol or policy making decisions relating to animal welfare are encouraged.
Captive animals in public aquariums, sanctuaries, zoological parks and other settings enlighten and inspire visitors when they are exhibited in well-designed, naturalistic, landscapes of sufficient size and complexity. An emerging science of animal welfare generated a corpus of evidence driving best practices and higher standards so animals in human care thrive. Modern facilities, based on scientific principles, encourage animals to interact, explore, choose, and solve problems. Under the best of conditions, animals thrive. Psychologists, managers, curators, keepers, veterinarians, and architects are working together to create optimal living spaces that functionally simulate nature. This volume seeks to publish empirical studies of enriched environments and/or practices and documented outcomes for a diversity of species. Empirical institutions committed to intervention promise a dynamic new era of continuing reform and revitalization. Manuscripts that describe a culture of creative design and management, and those that provide new metrics are especially encouraged. We welcome original contributions that explore both physical and psychological features of design, exhibition, and husbandry. Especially welcome are findings that facilitate individual autonomy and resilience, and evidence-based methods of intervention that promote health and wellness. Authors may also submit papers that identify urgent strategies and tactics to mitigate aging hardscapes when resources for reform are scarce. Finally, contributions that address the need for empirically based decision making in protocol or policy making decisions relating to animal welfare are encouraged.
Keywords: Captivity, Environment, Standards, Welfare, Animals
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
