Region Global | Method Membership | |
Formation 1973; 44 years ago (1973) Type International not-for-profit organization Purpose Zoo and aquarium animal records database Location Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. |
Species360 (formerly International Species Information System or ISIS) founded in 1974, is an international non-profit organization that maintains an online database of wild animals maintained in captivity. As of 2016, the organization serves more than 1,000 zoos, aquariums and zoological associations in 90 countries worldwide. The organization provides its members with zoological data collection and management software called ZIMS—the Zoological Information Management System. As of 2016, the ZIMS database contains information on 21,000 taxonomies at species level; 74,000,000 medical records. It also includes. Members use the basic biologic information (age, sex, parentage, place of birth, circumstance of death, etc.) collected in the system to care for and manage their animal collections (including demographic and genetic management in many cases). It is also used for ex situ breeding programs and supporting conservation research and programs.
Contents
Since its founding in 1973, the group has been a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) pursuing wild animal conservation goals. Species360 works in partnership with zoo associations around the world.
Regional association members include:
Species360 and the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA) have a five-year memorandum of understanding with a primary goal of migrating the majority of the zoos in India into the ZIMS database.
The organization has staff and representatives in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), New Delhi (India), Jerusalem (Israel), and Istanbul (Turkey) with headquarters in Minnesota (USA).
Centralized database
Modern zoos and aquariums often are "gene banks" for endangered species. In some cases, species which have become extinct in the wild and have been bred in zoos are eventually returned to the wild. Examples include the black-footed ferret, California condor, Przewalski's horse, red wolf, Micronesian kingfisher (not yet reintroduced), and the Arabian oryx. Individual zoos generally do not have the space to maintain a viable species population (which for many mammals and birds requires 500+ animals in order to maintain sufficient genetic diversity), so maintaining genetic diversity requires coordination between many zoos. Scientific expertise on husbandry, nutrition, veterinary care and so on is spread throughout the zoos and aquaria of the world. Breeding and population management relies on accurate information about animals in all member institutions, especially pedigree history (parentage) and demography (births and deaths).
Species360 records are accepted by international regulatory bodies such as CITES. Roughly three-quarters of Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) members in North America are members, and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) requires its members to join. The World Association of Zoos and Aquaria's (WAZA) Conservation Strategy Guidelines strongly recommend that all zoo and aquaria join and participate in data sharing via ZIMS.
Software
History
In 1973, Ulysses Seal and Dale Makey proposed the International Species Information System (ISIS) as an international database to help zoos and aquariums accomplish long-term conservation management goals. It was founded in 1974 with an initial membership of 51 zoos in North America and Europe, and its membership has increased every year since. Grants and endorsements were provided by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV) and other zoological associations. The founders also raised development funding from private foundations and the United States Department of the Interior. For the first 30 years, the Minnesota Zoo hosted the program on their grounds.
Since 1989, the organisation has been incorporated as a non-profit entity under an international Board of Trustees elected by subscribing member institutions. In 2016, the organisation was renamed as Species360.