"To familiarize yourself with the efforts of the best of these animal havens is to understand that they work with sincerity and some urgency to try to understand and save endangered species, while also navigating public expectations and budgetary pressures. In other words, they operate in 'powerful ethical rapids,' in the words of the editor of The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, an eye-opening new book from the University of Chicago Press."

Steve Johnson | Chicago Tribune

“In an age of extinction, ‘wild’ places are increasingly being managed like zoos. What role do actual zoos and aquariums have to play? The Ark and Beyond looks at this question from all angles; the result is both informative and thought-provoking.”

Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History"

“The role of zoos and aquariums is constantly evolving, particularly as there is pressure to increase their contribution to conservation. This collection ably shows that zoos and aquariums are not a flotilla of little arks that have to be self-sufficient. Rather, we should be better grounded in the social fabric of our communities, better networked, and better connected to the animals outside our walls.”

Jenny Gray, CEO of Zoos Victoria, Australia, and president of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

“The Ark and Beyond is essential reading for anyone interested in our tangled and evolving relationship with zoos and aquariums. At the zoo we find ourselves at the shifting borderland between the wild and the walled. This book’s editors and contributors explore that territory, bringing together decades of practical and theoretical expertise in conservation biology, history, and education. Their insights will deeply inform and benefit readers wrestling with the complex questions we find ourselves asking when we lock eyes with our kindred creatures.”

Curt Meine, Aldo Leopold Foundation & Center for Humans and Nature

"Issues such as zoo animal protection and species reintroduction, but also the question of whether zoos really can be 'wild,' are illuminated in this book in terms of the full range of research and conservation practices of zoos and aquariums."

Tiergarten

“A valuable contribution to existing literature, not only by illustrating the earliest roots of contemporary conservation strategies that, although substantially distinct from ex situ conservation in the twenty-first century, nonetheless reveals deep roots to a phenomenon that is often considered to be very recent indeed. Featuring contributions from a broad array of international scholars and ranging across time and space, the collection represents a thorough articulation of the fluid histories, challenges, and futures of zoo- and aquarium-based conservation. . . . Engaging, accurate, and concise, the collection succeeds in communicating stories of complex pasts, presents, and futures in accessible form and to multiple audiences. Indeed, this work has much to say to historians, bioscientists, geographers, zoologists, and zoo management alike.”

Andrew Flack, University of Bristol | Environmental History

"A remarkably thorough account of zoo and aquarium conservation. . . . Highly balanced. . . . Anyone who has visited a zoo or aquarium, and wondered whether its educational and conservation benefits outweigh its costs in terms of potentially diminished animal well-being, will find this book captivating."

Miles A. Powell, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore | Journal of the History of Biology

"Aquaria and zoos are sometimes a cause of concern for those anxious about animal welfare, but now they are making an increasingly important contribution to the survival of endangered species—as well as having an educational function. This book considers the history of the institutions, animal welfare, critical role in re-introduction programmes, how their practices and policies are evolving, and further their ethics and visions for the future."

Biodiversity and Conservation