Objective: To establish a demographic approach to facilitate the comparison of husbandry success for deer species in zoos and to test for factors that influence the performance of deer species in captivity.
Sample population: Data collected from 45,736 zoo-kept deer that comprised 31 species.
Procedures: Data had been collected by the International Species Information System during the last 3 decades on zoo-kept deer around the world. The relative life expectancy (rLE) of a species (ie, mean life expectancy as a proportion of the maximum recorded life span for that species) was used to describe zoo populations. The rLE (values between 0 and 1) was used to reflect the husbandry success of a species.
Results: A significant positive correlation was found between the rLE of a species and the percentage of grass in the natural diet of the species, suggesting that there are more problems in the husbandry of browsing than of grazing species. The 4 species for which a studbook (ie, record of the lineage of wild animals bred in captivity) was maintained had a high rLE, potentially indicating the positive effect of intensive breeding management.
Conclusion and clinical relevance: The rLE facilitated the comparison of husbandry success for various species and may offer the possibility of correlating this quotient with other biological variables. Ultimately, identifying reasons for a low husbandry success in certain species may form the basis for further improvements of animal welfare in captivity.