School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.
Am J Primatol. 2022 Oct;84(10):e23369. doi: 10.1002/ajp.23369. Epub 2022 Mar 14.
Primate cognition research is reliant on access to members of the study sp ecies and logistical infrastructures to conduct observations and experiments. Historically founded in research centers and private collections, and spreading to modern zoos, sanctuaries, and the field, primate cognition has been investigated in diverse settings, each with benefits and challenges. In our systematic review of 12 primatology, animal behavior, and animal cognition journals over the last 15 years, we turn a spotlight on zoos to quantify their current impact on the field and to highlight their potential as robust contributors to future work. To put zoo-based research in context, we compare zoos to three other site types: university-owned or independent research centers, sanctuaries, and field sites. We assess the contributions of zoos across several critical considerations in primate cognition research, including number of investigations, species diversity, sample size, research topic diversity, and methodology. We identified 1119 publications reporting studies of primate cognition, almost 25% of which report research conducted in zoos. Across publications, zoo-based research has greater species diversity than research centers and covers a diverse range of research topics. Although our review is merely a snapshot of primate cognition research, our findings suggest that zoos may present advantages to researchers regarding species diversity, and lack some of the methodological constraints of field sites, allowing greater ease of access to a diverse range of subjects for cognition investigations. We suggest that zoos have great potential as key contributors for future investigations in primate cognition. Finally, we shed light on the symbiotic relationship that can emerge between researchers and zoos, forming partnerships that bring unique advantages to both parties.
灵长类认知研究依赖于获得研究物种的成员和进行观察和实验的后勤基础设施。历史上，灵长类认知研究起源于研究中心和私人收藏，并扩展到现代动物园、保护区和野外，在不同的环境中进行了研究，每种环境都有其优势和挑战。在过去 15 年中，我们对 12 种灵长类动物学、动物行为学和动物认知期刊进行了系统回顾，将重点放在动物园上，以量化它们对该领域的当前影响，并强调它们作为未来工作有力贡献者的潜力。为了了解基于动物园的研究的背景，我们将动物园与其他三种地点类型进行了比较：大学拥有或独立的研究中心、保护区和野外地点。我们评估了动物园在灵长类认知研究的几个关键考虑因素中的贡献，包括调查数量、物种多样性、样本大小、研究主题多样性和方法。我们确定了 1119 篇报告灵长类认知研究的出版物，其中近 25%的出版物报告了在动物园进行的研究。在出版物中，基于动物园的研究比研究中心具有更大的物种多样性，并涵盖了广泛的研究主题。尽管我们的综述只是灵长类认知研究的一个快照，但我们的发现表明，动物园在物种多样性方面可能对研究人员具有优势，并且缺乏野外地点的一些方法学限制，从而更容易获得各种认知研究对象。我们认为，动物园在未来的灵长类认知研究中具有巨大的潜力。最后，我们揭示了研究人员和动物园之间可以形成的共生关系，这种关系可以为双方带来独特的优势。
