Research policy

Deliberate participation

Burgers' Zoo receives numerous requests for research internships, graduation projects, and national and international collaborations. We must choose from all these proposals based on quality, expected impact, and theme. Our park's research policy helps us make sound judgements and maintain our focus.

Welfare issue

In every decision regarding participation in a particular research project, the responsible biologist (curator) starts by assessing whether the proposed research method could compromise animal welfare. In general, our policy is to only conduct research that has little or no negative impact on animal welfare. We refrain from conducting studies that involve a degree of distress for animals and fall under the definition of an “animal experiment” under Dutch law. If there is any ambiguity as to whether something qualifies as an animal experiment, we contact the educational institution and the Animal Experiments Committee.

Traditionally, most research at Burgers' Zoo focuses on animal behaviour. This mostly concerns noninvasive research, often limited to observing the goings-on in animals without disturbing their behaviour. For example, dozens of researchers have been studying the chimpanzee group at Burgers' Zoo since the 1970s. General biological concepts like reconciliation and personalities originate from our zoo, and we are proud of that.

Focus areas

Our research policy defines nine focus areas, which we will discuss below with some examples.

1) Applied research related to animal welfare in zoos

The research topics are often chosen by the curators of our park and are frequently of current interest, relating to things like a change in food, group composition or enclosure. The aim in those cases is to gain additional insight into animal welfare using behavioural indicators. Students work on these questions with support from Burgers' Zoo's Citizen Science Team where necessary, especially when a research project needs to start quickly. For example, in recent years, the harmonious coexistence of deer, bantengs and monkeys has been observed in the Rimba. Shared housing can be very enriching, but only if the animals are well-balanced and there is no tension. The behaviour of gorillas towards the public has also been documented; the effects of a public evening opening on various animals’ behaviour have been examined; this spring, two students will start researching how water flow in the shark pool affects the swimming patterns of our free-swimming sharks.

2) Research that promotes species and habitat conservation in the wild

We always cooperate with research projects that have a clear benefit for species conservation, as long as they are not at odds with individual animal welfare. This type of research is usually conducted by national or international academic students or post-docs. One example involved testing cameras 'stuck' on manatees before using the technique on manatees in the wild to study seagrass beds in the Caribbean.

3) Collaboration in EAZA-approved multi-institutional behavioural research projects

These research projects are conducted in several zoos. The mostly foreign scientists want to observe our animals to increase their sample size. Researchers generally only stay for a short while — a few days to six weeks. However, they often return multiple times within a longer time frame for multiple data samples. These scientists work highly independently and already know exactly what methods and data analyses they will apply. That makes it easy for me as a research manager: I mainly have to facilitate, handle communication and liaise with the animal care departments. A good example is the more than decade-long international comparison study between gorilla groups with castrated young males, for which our gorilla group without castrated animals serves as a reference group. Another is a study of manatee sounds in various zoos. Zoos also often receive surveys and questionnaires from the coordinator of a joint population management programme (EEP), which helps collect a lot of data for research.

4) Research in Burgers' Ocean

Our precious Ocean is one of the world's larger marine aquariums and offers exceptional opportunities for marine life research. Our aquaria can be used as models to increase knowledge of nutrient cycles in coral reefs, understand the life cycle of reef fish and corals, test coral reef restoration methods, and more. Over the past twenty years, more than sixty students have researched various Ocean-specific topics. That research has led to several scientific publications, thanks in part to our enthusiastic Ocean curator, Max Janse. 

5) Research into ape behaviour

Every zoo has its own speciality, often stemming from its history. World-renowned research has been carried out on our group of chimpanzees since the 1970s. To continue this tradition, we support basic research — primarily involving social behaviour and learning ability — on our ape groups. However, research questions must never disrupt social cohesion within the ape group, such as by requiring animals to be temporarily removed from the group to perform an intelligence test in a separation enclosure. Scientists at Utrecht University, in particular, are regularly engaged in ape research. There is a tradition here, too: Jan van Hooff, professor emeritus and seasoned Burgers' Zoo stalwart, has not only conducted important behavioural research on primates but has also directed Utrecht University's department in this field of research for decades.

6) Research on biodiversity in ecodisplays

The eco-displays that recreate a rainforest, desert, coral reef or mangrove ecosystem in miniature are a unique feature of our zoo. In addition to our animal and plant collection, our own biodiverse species communities have developed in these ecodisplays. Understanding species diversity and the sometimes symbiotic relationships between them is key. As such, we are happy to facilitate research conducted by experts on things like fungi, freshwater snails in waterways, flatworms, mites, spiders, and other small, often overlooked life that can be crucial to the proper functioning of an ecosystem. These experts have made many fascinating findings!

7) Botanical research

As you may well know, Burgers' Zoo is not only a zoo but also a recognised botanical garden. The botanical collection consists of over 1,500 plant species. We welcome and support all kinds of research projects in the botanical field, as we believe that our rich plant collection offers great opportunities in this field. We want to encourage research in this area even more and strengthen partnerships in the future.

8) Donation of artefacts and animal samples for research purposes

Universities regularly request body parts, tissue samples or other materials from dead animals for various studies. We support these applications as long as it is possible within CITES regulations. Animal material has been collected Europe-wide in the EAZA Biobank initiative for several years now. This project is taking off. Thousands of samples are already stored safely and registered clearly in three locations throughout Europe. In future, scientists will no longer have to approach each zoo individually but can turn to the EAZA Biobank. Our input in the future will be more limited to transferring material and data to the Biobank. This joint approach is a nice advance for things like scientific DNA research to study regional subspecies, for example.

9) Visitor studies

We like to learn from the visitor experience in its broadest sense. To that end, researchers led by the zoo conduct numerous studies, especially in collaboration with the education and marketing departments. We use methods from the social sciences, such as surveys and in-depth interviews. We also observe visitors to understand the walking route choices they make and the percentage of visitors that look at a sign or approach an information table. A combination of observations and interviews also provides great insights. This type of research is important for the proper evaluation of educational programmes and family activities in the park, among other things. It also helps to continously increase our understanding and optimisation of the visitor experience. On that note, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to fill in the online survey about ZieZoo after receiving the ZieZoo magazine in January. With 500 respondents, we have obtained an excellent sample, which the ZieZoo editors are currently working on!