The global debate over the ethics and purpose of elephants in zoos has resulted in proposed legislation to cease keeping them, unless zoos can demonstrate the species' needs are met. Outdated analyses that fail to provide a current and robust appraisal of elephant survival in zoos fuels the debate. We analysed changes in life expectancy and lifespan equality in zoo elephants between 1960 and 2024, and compared these to wild or semi-wild populations. We found an increase of up to 21% in female zoo elephant life expectancy over time, and up to 44% for males. Lifespan equality increased by up to 14% in both sexes. Improvements in care have resulted in comparable or higher survival measures of zoo elephants compared to evaluated wild populations. Our findings provide information to guide zoos to ensure elephants live long meaningful lives that are, at a minimum, comparable to wild counterparts.
Temporal improvements in elephant longevity challenge the notion of compromised survival in zoos.
TL;DR
The global debate over the ethics and purpose of elephants in zoos has resulted in proposed legislation to cease keeping them, unless zoos can demonstrate the species' needs are met. Outdated analyses that fail to provide a current and robust appraisal of elephant survival in zoos fuels the debate. We analysed changes in life expectancy and lifespan equality in zoo elephants between 1960 and 2024, and compared these to wild or semi-wild populations. We found an increase of up to 21% in female zo
Credibility Assessment
Preliminary — 38/100
Study Design
Rigor of the research methodology
5/20
Sample Size
Whether the study was sufficiently powered
7/20
Peer Review
Review status and journal reputation
10/20
Replication
Has this finding been independently reproduced?
6/20
Transparency
Funding disclosure and data availability
10/20
Overall
Sum of all five dimensions
38/100
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