A studbook is a true record of the history of an animal population held by zoos. It includes pedigrees of animals and a listing of the various locations in which animals have been held. The studbook traces the entire history of each individual in a population; these collective histories are known as the population's genetic and demographic identity.

Studbooks are primarily used for monitoring and managing populations in zoos and aquariums. They provide an accurate database for particular species that allows detailed genetic and demographic analyses. For example, the data can be used to make breeding decisions so that genetic variation can be retained and close inbreeding avoided. The data can also be used to assess whether a population is stable, increasing, or decreasing in numbers.

A studbook keeper is an individual who compiles and maintains a pedigree and demographic database on a group of animals (usually a specific taxon). However, studbook keeping is not a secretarial effort. The studbook keeper is a resource: a knowledgeable individual with a vast amount of information about a particular group of animals. Moreover, the studbook keeper is a researcher who pursues those individual facts that together portray the true history of the population.

Staff members of The Living Desert keep five international studbooks and two for the North American region.
These are:
Sand Cat
Mexican Wolf
Soemmering's Gazelle, Cuvier's Gazelle, Addax
Slender-horned Gazelle
Arabian Oryx