７、 Zoo University – Introduction to ZOO-logy－

 

Masayuki TANAKA

Kyoto City Zoo

 

Modern zoos have four important roles: conservation, research, education, and recreation. The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) also declares the above four roles. The Kyoto City Zoo established a new section, Center for Research and Education of Wildlife (CREW), this past April. CREW has already started several new educational programs. In this talk, we introduce one such program in cooperation with a junior high school science club. This program is financially supported by the Science Partnership Program (SPP) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Our program contains: 1) environmental education using compost made of elephant feces, 2) rudimentary veterinary science using a carcass, 3) environmental enrichment for chimpanzees, and some lectures. The main theme of our program is sensing real animals, which is possible in a zoo. We also introduce comparative cognitive research in zoo primates. At Kyoto City Zoo, we have continued the training of serial learning with Arabic numerals in chimpanzees, a gibbon, and mandrill monkeys. In the task, the participant animals touch numerals on a touch-sensitive screen. This study is always open to zoo visitors. We hold a monthly discussion on their learning. Through this study, we hope that zoo visitors understand the similarity in intelligence between humans and apes, and monkeys.