Research Partner Program: A growing number of researchers turn to Species360 for data

December 1, 2020
Mary Ellen Amodeo
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Overview: What is the Species360 Research Partner Program

Photo courtesy of OneGreenPlanet (2018): A caretaker with Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation assesses progress toward rehabilitation, as young orphaned orangutan waits.

When two students, one at the Royal Agriculture University in England and the other in Animal Management and Applied Zoology at Southern Connecticut State University, decided to collaborate on a research project, they turned to Species360 for essential data on wildlife.

In doing so, they join a growing number of researchers worldwide participating in the Research Partner Program that ensures ZIMS data is used to help deliver discoveries. Among the research partners are: IUCN Species Survival Commission – the Primates Section on Small Apes, Harvard University Evolutionary Biology research team, University of California at Berkeley and UC Davis (United States), University of Navarro (Spain), Babes Bolyai University (Romania), Murdoch University (Australia) and more.

As a Species360 Research Partner, these institutions may access aggregated, anonymous data in ZIMS. The data, considered essential to the study of medical treatments, lifespans, reproductive cycles, and population dynamics, is curated and shared by more than 1,200 Species360 institutional members. Animal care and medical teams, as well as dedicated registrars, record and ensure the quality of data.

“(Species360) health data are not only important in comparative medical contexts, but also for providing insights into underlying health conditions that, in the incipient stages of disease development, render individuals more vulnerable…” – COMMENTARY / Zoo and aquarium data changes what we know about species: A biodemographer’s perspective, with James R. Carey, University of California, Davis

Species360 serves aquariums, zoos, and wildlife centers worldwide. Together, this community sustains the world’s largest set of data on wildlife in human care – providing the data chosen by CITES, IUCN, and other global leaders to advance our understanding of populations. Species360’s mission is to improve animal welfare and inform species conservation.