ZooMonitor Community: A Tool for Evaluating Population-Level Behavior Questions

From plains zebras to zebra sharks, modern, accredited zoos and aquariums cooperate on the breeding and transfer of individuals from diverse species with unique needs. As a result, the housing and husbandry of a species varies across organizations. The degree to which these practices align with a species’ needs can influence well-being and reproduction. As a key measure of well-being, animal behavior is often the most practical and useful tool for evaluating the impact of housing and husbandry on animals. However, studies conducted at a single organization can be limited in their ability to explore these factors and a multi-institutional approach is needed. Recently, Lincoln Park Zoo launched the ZooMonitor Community, an expansion of the ZooMonitor behavior recording platform. This new collaboration tool is freely available to all zoos and aquariums to facilitate multi-institutional data sharing and project management. Here, we provide an overview of the ZooMonitor Community tool and highlight several recent Community projects on diverse taxa, including giraffes, Asian small-clawed otters, common seadragons, and southern ground hornbills. We hope the ZooMonitor Community can provide population managers with an accessible tool to address broad, species-level questions on care, well-being, and reproduction that can enhance the lives of animals in managed settings.