Changes of the Situation inside and outside of the Zoo and Future of the Research

Abstract

　It may be said that the history of Japanese zoo, aquarium and social education is characterized by lack of the independence of will. As for it, the establishment of the zoo as a leader of the natural science and scientific research has been disturbed. In the Meiji period, the scientific research has not been laid to the essence of the organization as for the zoo, the aquarium at the historical standing point in Japan. It was surrounded by various breaks to come from different motives and value standards although the legislative system based upon the freedom after the Second World War was maintained, and the development of the research in the zoo has been poor. The breaks have been present in the zoo as follows: break between duties and the research, break between pure science and practical technique, break between social education administration and the scientific research administration, break between the applied veterinary medicine and zoology, break between reductionism and comparative zoology, break between education administration and the environmental administration, and break between education administration and the construction administration. It is desired that zoo will be established as a leader of the scientific research.