Zoo Tales Blog: Dr Paul Rose on The Behavioural Biology of Zoo Animals

For Zoo Tales week, Dr Paul Rose, Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee (AWEC) coordinator and Research Associate from WWT Slimbridge, guides us through the writing and publishing experience for his book; The Behavioural Biology of Zoo Animals (BBZA).

In 2022, I was very lucky to achieve a personal goal of mine, which was to write a book. I had for a long time nurtured the idea that a text on “what zoos animals are” (i.e. their natural history, evolutionary ecology, adaptations, anatomy, and physiology) was lacking. Filling such a gap in the market would, I felt, help to further enhance and improve zoo animal care and welfare.  

In 2020, I was both humbled and excited to be approached by a large, academic publishing house who had heard of my scientific research and who wished to add a zoo-themed book to their offering. Whilst discussions on the book were taking place, a small challenge of COVID-19 emerged, and the project was shelved until the start of 2021. I was eventually commissioned in January 2021 to produce “The behavioural biology of zoo animals”. I sent out invites to chapter authors in February 2021 and BBZA was delivered to the publishing house in March of 2022.

BBZA is split into three sections. Introductory concepts on animal behaviour (how to measure it, why we should measure it in the zoo); taxa-specific accounts that outline the importance of behavioural evidence to the husbandry and management of different animal groups; and “for the future”- a concluding section of emerging issues and future challenges of where we go with behaviour to move the zoo forwards. BBZA was never designed to cover every single type of animal housed in captivity. But it is meant to illustrate general trends in the use of behavioural evidence, and this approach crosses taxa. We take evidence from the wild, we consider what husbandry and management methods work best, and we evolve such care to ensure its relevance to that species.  

One of my key aims when writing BBZA was to provide a voice to those that “know their stuff” but who may not normally get a chance to express it widely. We so often find the same opinions being given by the same people in the published literature, and that is unhealthy for discussion and debate. I wanted to give keepers, veterinary surgeons, operational zoo professionals, and others who work “hands on” with the species or practices covered in the book a chance to share their knowledge. I also wanted a global feel to the book and made sure to approach people who worked in different zoo regions.  

I was very lucky to have been approached by a publishing house and be commissioned by them. Finding a publisher, getting your proposal reviewed and accepted is challenging. To have one come to me made the whole process easier. I will be forever grateful to the publishers for inviting me to manage this project and for giving me the opportunity to create something that (I hope) is very useful to zoos and that I am also immensely proud of.

To conclude, my take-home points for book writing for anyone thinking of venturing on this journey would be:

• Expect stress. There were many late evenings and some very early starts to get things reviewed, proofed, edited, and polished.
• Don’t expect people to always follow instructions. My set of invited chapter authors were generally very good at keeping to task, but the odd independent streak was present too ;) 
• Delegate responsibilities. Try not to take on all the work yourself. If you have asked a chapter author to do something, and they haven’t, don’t fall into the trap of doing yourself to make your life easier. Be polite, but firm, and remind them to follow instructions on formatting or layout or whatever it is that they have deviated from.  
• Manage the workload for your own sanity. This is my number one top tip. When I set out my plans for chapter instructions, content, and deadlines, I did it with my own mental health in mind. This was my book and it was my time and therefore chapter authors would work to my schedule. I found this approach invaluable as it meant I had capacity to deal with delays, issues, or other unexpected circumstances as they arose, but I could still deliver the final book on time.
• Communication is key. Keep in touch with your team of authors. Do this via group email but also follow up with individual messages too. People may be daunted by a group email or it might slip their minds as they may perceive such messages as less personal and not as important to respond to. Reach out and check in with all authors.
• Be approachable. No question is stupid. People can ask for help and support if needed. But do be firm and remind chapter authors of their contractual responsibilities. Take the same fair approach to all authors that you manage.
• Have a back-up should things go awry. Other potential contacts you could approach for writing. Be tactful and explain why they might be needed (they might be miffed to not be invited first time around).
• Avoid being a helicopter. Don’t constantly hover over people whilst they are writing. Give them space and time to develop their ideas and start work. Yes, communication is important but appearing stifling or micromanaging is very unhelpful and breeds resentment of the project.
• Set out your goals with the publisher when you start. I was very clear that I would only write BBZA if I had control over who wrote what and that the book would be affordable for the widest demographic. There are so many specialist texts on the market with high (and therefore inaccessible) price tags and I did not want to add to that pile of elite academic output.  
• Choosing a front cover photo is probably one of the best things you will ever do!

I am more than happy to talk to budding BIAZA-based authors that also have an urge to write a book but feel daunted by how to start and what to do. Happy reading, folks!

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not a reflection of BIAZA's positions.