Programmatic guidelines for enhancing wildlife conservation education in zoos

In order to address the question of how zoos can effectively enhance wildlife conservation education among visitors such that broader conservation goals are acknowledged and acted upon, this thesis contributes a systematic review and analysis of the literatures on the educational context of zoos and on environmental and conservation education, in order to discern the principles and techniques that should programmatically function to effectively educate zoo visitors about wildlife conservation. Analytical deductions derived from this systematic review are developed into a set of specific, programmatic guidelines that should function to foster and enhance wildlife conservation education within the zoo setting. A model delineating the use of lemur exhibits in zoo-based conservation education constructively applies this research to illustrate how the application of the ecological and conservation information of a particular taxon can be utilized to actualize the goal of enhancing wildlife conservation education in zoos.