Scientists develop bio-score to assess zoo animal well-being

For a normal visitor to a zoo, whether in Hyderabad or elsewhere in the country, a captive tiger may appear calm and healthy. 

It might pace occasionally, eat hungrily and even roar at visitors, which are expected behaviours in a zoo setting. Interestingly, these same characteristics often form the basis of the official ‘Care in Captivity’ scorecard used by zoo authorities to determine if an animal is thriving.

A high-tech genetic laboratory in Hyderabad, however, has proved that visual observations of an animal in a zoo are no longer enough to gauge its actual



well-being. 

In fact, geneticists from the city-based laboratory have developed a ‘bio-score’ based on forensic-level hormone analysis that enables them to accurately determine an animal’s true well-being with a high level of precision.

The geneticists at LaCONES-CCMB in Hyderabad have developed what can be termed a ‘genetic audit’ of captive zoo animals, which can accurately indicate their true well-being. The forensic bioscoring of animals is far more holistic, as the test leaves no room for human bias or for missing the early stages of physiological distress in an animal.