Do animals live longer in captivity?

Dolphins generally do well, but “elephants are something we are working on,” he said. Some studies say wild elephants live as long, or longer, than elephants in zoos. According to Willis, animals die at a zoo far more than anyone hears about, but the number of deaths isn't indicative of a good or bad zoo. read more

Researchers have observed African zoo elephants with life spans of about 17 years, whereas wild ones in Amboseli lived 36 years. However, sea lions can live to be around 30 years old in captivity, in contrast to an average of approximately 20 years in the wild. read more

As Kate Sheridan so rightly claimed, nearly all animals live longer in captivity than in the wild. Some notable exceptions include orcas, elephants, and oddly, warthogs. Until recently, moose were shorter lived in captivity- recalibrating their diet did the trick. read more

In zoos, they live up to age 20. “The ones that do the best are the ones that have a good domestic analog. The Asian wild horse, we do well with because horse medicine applies pretty directly. read more