Researchers and conservationists who have compared, in a premiere study, the behaviour of captive elephants and their cousins in the wild say that being kept in zoos “consumes” elephants.

The study’s findings show a not-so-bright outlook for elephants in zoos. They have a significantly lower life expectancy than those in the wild and working populations in Africa or Asia.

Although elephants receive good care in captivity and are safe from predators, the study shows that death rates in zoos in the West are greater than birth rates. Therefore captive elephant populations are unsustainable. "The zoo population consumes rather than produces elephants," says Georgia Mason of the University of Guelph in Canada in an interview. She went on to remark that “we feel that’s not really appropriate.”

Miranda Stevenson, director of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums admits that the Association is aware the zoo population isn’t doing as well as they would like, and that neither is the breeding and survival of young animals. She goes on to say that they are working hard on addressing this.

The paper was not without critical response however, as Paul Boyle, senior vice president for conservation and education at the same zoo association called the paper “terribly flawed” and attributed it to an anti-zoo agenda. Boyle says he could not recall the last times elephants had been imported into the U.S. to populate a zoo. He also pointed out that the study did not take into full account the number of wild elephants killed by people.