Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Group Population Management

Coordinated management programs now exist for a variety of taxa including snails, fish, flamingos, toads, guenons, and gazelles. These types of species (e.g., herds, troops, flocks, tanks) are generally referred to as groups. As the need for group population management has become more pressing, experts from around the world have begun turning their attention to this problem.

Two international group population management workshops have been convened in an effort to coordinate these efforts and to facilitate research and disseminate information. The first group workshop took place in 1998 and was hosted by the Zoological Society of London at the London Zoo. The second workshop was hosted by the Woodland Park Zoo in 2002.

1998 meeting at the London Zoo

The first Group Population Management Workshop was held at the Zoological Society of London on October 5 - 7, 1998. In attendance were 26 participants representing zoo curators, registrars, population biologists and software specialists. The zoo and aquarium communities in America, Europe and Australia were represented so the different geographic perspectives and issues could be discussed and a co-ordinated action plan developed.

Summary of the 1998 London meeting (in PDF) (78 pp.)

2002 meeting at the Woodland Park Zoo

The second Group Population Management Workshop was held at Woodland Park Zoo on May 16 - 18, 2002 as a follow-up to the 1998 London meeting. Topics included records, demography, genetics, databases and software development, and several case studies.

Summary of the 2002 Woodland Park Zoo meeting