Paul Rees 
Students’ Dictionary of Zoo and Aquarium Studies 

This Students’ Dictionary of Zoo and Aquarium Studies contains over 5, 000 terms (illustrated by 88 figures) used in zoos, aquariums, safari parks, birds of prey centres, petting zoos, animal rescue centres and other facilities that make up the ‘zoo industry’. It covers a wide range of topics including animal behaviour, animal husbandry, animal welfare, ecology, law, taxonomy, classification, nutrition, parasitology, physiology, reproduction, experimental design, statistics, veterinary science, disease, visitor studies, water management, wildlife conservation and zoo design and architecture. It should be of great interest to those studying zoo biology, animal management, veterinary science and related subjects along with zookeepers and aquarists in the early stages of their careers.


Dr Paul Rees has a long-standing interest in animals and in zoos. He has taught a wide range of subjects including ecology, animal behaviour, zoo biology, and wildlife and zoo law. While lecturing at the University of Salford he created the first undergraduate programme in Wildlife Conservation and Zoo Biology in the United Kingdom and over a period of some 20 years was an external examiner for BSc and MSc programmes in zoo biology and wildlife conservation at the Universities of Edinburgh, Chester, Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, Gloucestershire and Nottingham Trent University. Dr Rees has published research on the large mammal fauna of Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, the ecology and behaviour of elephants and cheetahs living in zoos, and the laws concerning wildlife reintroductions and the regulation of zoos.

About the author

Paul Rees was a senior lecturer in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at the University of Salford, United Kingdom, for 22 years until his retirement in 2020. He holds a BSc in Environmental Biology from the University of Liverpool and a Ph D in animal ecology and behaviour from the University of Bradford. Paul previously lectured at three Further Education Colleges and a Higher Education College in the United Kingdom, and trained biology teachers at Sokoto College of Education in Nigeria. He has taught from GCE ‘O’/GCSE level to MSc level and has been an external examiner for a range of taught programmes, from Higher National Diploma to MSc level, at six British universities. Paul has published papers on mammal behaviour and ecology, wildlife law, and the role of zoos in conservation, along with eight textbooks concerned with ecology, zoo biology, wildlife law and elephants. Paul is the author of three other titles in CABI’s Key Questions series: Ecology, Applied Ecology and Conservation, and Biodiversity