Problematyka współczesnej biopolityki zoo. Przypadek szympansów

Nina Matylda Hilgier; Thurston Cleveland Hicks

doi:10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA.2025.15.08

Published: 2025-06-12

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2025)

The Issue of Contemporary Zoo Biopolitics. The Case of Chimpanzees

Nina Matylda Hilgier

, Thurston Cleveland Hicks

Section: ARTICLES

https://doi.org/10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA.2025.15.08

Abstract

Zoos are often promoted as centres of education, conservation and research. Nevertheless, non-humans of many species kept in zoos often engage in abnormal behaviours and show signs of reduced welfare. Biopolitical considerations ultimately shape the lives of all zoo-housed animals, but our close cousins, the chimpanzees, evoke particularly high levels of controversy. Zoos focus on three most prominent objectives: conservation, education and research, which often are used to legitimize keeping non-humans in captivity. The article raises difficult issues connected with keeping chimpanzees in zoological gardens, including the urgent question as to whether they should be kept in zoos at all.

Keywords:

biopolitics , zoo , chimpanzees , bioethics , welfare

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BIOPOLITYKA ZOO / Artykuł

Citation rules

Hilgier, N. M., & Hicks, T. C. (2025). The Issue of Contemporary Zoo Biopolitics. The Case of Chimpanzees. Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies, 15(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA.2025.15.08

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Nina Matylda Hilgier

hilgier.nina@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5199-3352

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Nina M. Hilgier is currently a student of the Artes Liberales master’s program at the Faculty of ‘Artes Liberales’ at the University of Warsaw. She graduated with merit from her bachelor’s degree studies in the field of Anthropozoology at the same faculty. Her dissertation focused on the welfare of zoo-housed chimpanzees. E-mail: hilgier.nina@gmail.com.

Thurston Cleveland Hicks

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6858-3204

Affiliation:

University of Warsaw Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Thurston C. Hicks is a Senior Specialist Research Technician and a teacher at the Faculty of ‘Artes Liberales’ at the University of Warsaw. He specializes in studying the evolution of culture in nonhuman primates, with a focus on chimpanzees in the Congo Basin. E-mail: t.hicks@uw.edu.pl.