Supplementary material from Survival improvements of marine mammals in zoological institutions mirror historical advances in human longevity ...

• Main Authors: Tidière, Morgane, Colchero, Fernando, Staerk, Johanna, Adkesson, Michael J., Andersen, Ditte H., Bland, Lucie, Böye, Martin, Brando, Sabrina, Clegg, Isabella, cubaynes, Sarah, Cutting, Amy, Man, Danny De, Derocher, Andrew E., Dorsey, Candice, Elgar, William, Gaglione, Eric, Hansen, Kirstin Anderson, Jungheim, Allison, Kok, José, Laule, Gail, Goya, Agustín Lopez, Miller, Lance, Monreal-Pawlowsky, Tania, Mucha, Katelyn, Owen, Megan A., Petersen, Stephen D., Pilfold, Nicholas, Richardson, Douglas, Richardson, Evan S., Sabo, Devon, Sato, Nobutaka, Shellabarger, Wynona, Skovlund, Cecilie R., Tomisawa, Kanako, Trautwein, Sandra E., Bonn, William Van, Elk, Cornelis Van, Fersen, Lorenzo Von, Wahlberg, Magnus, Zhang, Peijun, Zhang, Xianfeng, Conde, Dalia A.
• Format: Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Royal Society 2023
• Subjects: Ecology not elsewhere classified; Evolutionary Biology not elsewhere classified; harbour seal; Phoca vitulina; polar bear; Ursus maritimus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24220229; https://rs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Supplementary_material_from_Survival_improvements_of_marine_mammals_in_zoological_institutions_mirror_historical_advances_in_human_longevity/24220229

An intense public debate has fuelled governmental bans on marine mammals held in zoological institutions. The debate rests on the assumption that survival in zoological institutions has been and remains lower than in the wild, albeit the scientific evidence in support of this notion is equivocal. Here, we used statistical methods previously applied to assess historical improvements in human lifespan and data on 8864 individuals of four marine mammal species (harbour seal, Phoca vitulina California sea lion, Zalophus californianus polar bear, Ursus maritimus common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus ) held in zoos from 1829 to 2020. We found that life expectancy increased up to 3.40 times, and first-year mortality declined up to 31%, during the last century in zoos. Moreover, the life expectancy of animals in zoos is currently 1.65–3.55 times longer than their wild counterparts. Like humans, these improvements have occurred concurrently with advances in management practices, crucial for population ...