ZIMS for Studbooks: Using ZIMS to manage your institution’s studbooks

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You may know that regional and international zoological associations use ZIMS for Studbooks to manage collaborative breeding programs worldwide. But did you know that you can use ZIMS for Studbooks to manage species important to your institution that are not managed by an association – and that ZIMS for Studbooks is included in your Species360 membership?

Like many things, making ZIMS for Studbooks available for institutionally-managed programs began as a request from our members. Now, Species360 members use ZIMS for Studbooks to manage more than 140 institutional studbooks. The vast majority of these represent species that have been assessed by the IUCN as critically endangered, endangered, threatened or vulnerable to extinction.

The Benefits: Keeping your studbook in ZIMS helps ensure that individual records are up to date. ZIMS for Studbooks links automatically to ZIMS for Husbandry to reflect the current status of the population. It also provides easier, one-stop access to all of the husbandry records for animals in the studbook. ZIMS standardizes essential information about the individual’s genetic history, the age and reproductive history of breeding pairs, their offspring, and where they are today. And, perhaps most importantly, keeping your studbook in ZIMS ensures a seamless hand-off to future staff.

ZIMS for Studbooks is included in your Species360 membership. Migrating your existing studbooks is easy, as is creating an all-new studbook. Non-members can also subscribe to use ZIMS for Studbooks. Contact Support@Species360 and we will help you get started.