How many species have zoos saved?

AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums have collaborated on breeding and reintroduction programs that have helped save at least nine species like California condors, black-footed ferrets, Przewalski's horse, golden lion tamarins, American red wolves, and more from the brink of extinction.



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Zoos do a lot for conservation. There are dedicated species survival programs which have helped species come out from the brink of extinction, good examples of that being the black-footed ferrets, the red wolves, the Przewalski's wild horse, and the California condors.

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Efforts to conserve species have resulted in saving at least 48 mammals and birds from extinction since the early 1990s. The rates of extinction would have been three or four times higher if actions like captive breeding hadn't been taken, according to a recent study in Conservation Letters.

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5 animals that wouldn't exist without zoos
  • Chicken frog. The population has decreased with over 90% the last 10 years which makes it critically endangered. ...
  • Scimitar-horned oryx. Scimitar-horned oryx are extinct in the wild. ...
  • European bison. ...
  • Lesser White-fronted Goose. ...
  • Przewalskis wild horse.


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Most animals confined in zoos are not endangered, nor are they being prepared for release into natural habitats. In fact, it is nearly impossible to release captive-bred animals, including threatened species like elephants, polar bears, gorillas, tigers and chimpanzees into the wild.

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Found only in Brazil, the golden lion tamarin was driven to the brink of extinction by a combination of deforestation and the pet trade. But the breeding efforts of almost 150 zoos have helped numbers recover to more than 3,000 in the wild.

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According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), its members deliver more than $350 million in conservation funding annually.

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In the most recent survey in 2018, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums: Contributed more than $22.5 billion to U.S. economy. Supported more than 198,000 full-time jobs in the U.S. Served more than 200 million annual visitors worldwide (183 million in the U.S.)

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This means that 25 percent of all bird species and 20 percent of all mammals are repre- sented in zoos, but only 12 percent of reptiles and 4 percent of amphibians. Some 66 percent of all mammal species classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered are kept in zoos.

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In 2013 a red panda named Rusty escaped from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington. Hours later he was safely nudged from a tree in a nearby neighborhood. It was later determined that Rusty escaped by climbing across vegetation weighed down by heavy rain.

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