Breeding for Conservation Flashcards
Species Conservation
Conservation defined as ‘securing populations of species for the long term’
• In-situ Conservation
- Conservation in natural surroundings
- Management and monitoring of biodiversity where it is encountered • Integrated approach
- E.g. Nature reserves, biospheres, national parks
• Ex-situ Conservation
- Conservation away from the natural habitat
* E.g. Zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, safari parks, gene banks.
Role of Zoos in Conservation
- “Zoos and aquariums are the third largest funder of conservation globally” WAZA 2020.
- Direct or Indirect conservation
- Financial
- Material
- In-kind contribution to research
- Ex-situ breeding
- Captive breeding programmes
- Education
- Reintroduction programmes
Legal Requirements of Zoos
- Conservation requirements You must do all of the following: • keep animals in an environment suitable for their species
- do as much as possible to stop any animals escaping
- stop pests and vermin getting into the zoo
- keep records of the zoo’s collection
- help educate people about biodiversity
- Zoo operators also need to do at least one of the following: • conservation research or training
- sharing conservation information
- breeding wild animals in captivity
- repopulate an area or reintroduce species into the wild • https://www.gov.uk/guidance/keeping-zoo-animals
Captive Exotic Species
- The majority of captive zoo animals are bred in captivity
- Purchase of animals from other zoos
- Transfers and exchanges between zoos • National and International
- Donations
- Private or public
- Taken from the wild (very rare)
- Orphans, injuries, disease risk, threat of extinction, seized from owners who have acquired illegally
Captive Breeding
The process of breeding animals outside of their natural environment in restricted conditions in farms, zoos or other closed facilities.
Purpose in zoos and aquariums:
• Increase captive population numbers of threatened or endangered species • Preservation of captive populations
• Reintroduction programmes
• Release programmes
• Safeguarding of the gene pool
• Produce animals for zoos, aquariums, and other public facilities: • Encourage visitors
• Education
• Financial gain
Aim of Captive Breeding Programmes
• To form large, viable populations of species ex situ long-term
• Purpose:
• providing animals for public educational and/or exhibit opportunities
• providing fundraising material
• providing research collections from which to gain basic knowledge of animal biology
and husbandry
• providing demographic and genetic backup to wild populations
Viable Populations
- Demographically stable
- Adequate animals of breeding age
- Able to reproduce at the required rate
- Healthy, well maintained and capable of self-sustaining reproduction • Able to breed when needed
- Distributed among several institutions to lessen the risks of catastrophic loss
- Sufficient size to maintain high levels of genetic diversity • To remain healthy and adapt to changing environments
- 90% diversity for 100 years
Management of Breeding Programmes
- International co-operative breeding programmes
- Four major associations:
- WAZA: The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)
- EAZA: European Association of Zoos and Aquariums
- BIAZA British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums • AZA: Association of Zoos and Aquariums
- These associations work together for captive breeding programmes
- In the UK, captive breeding programmes are facilitated and endorsed by EAZA • EEPs
European Endangered Species Programme
OLD MODEL
• Established in 1985
• Intensive population management
• An EEP per species in a breeding programme
• Each EEP has a species coordinator (specialist) assisted by the species committee
• Collect information on the status of all the animals of the species in zoos and aquariums • Producing a studbook
• Perform demographic and genetic analyses
• Produce a plan for the future management of the species
• Make recommendations on
• Which animals should breed
• Which animals should not breed
• Which animals should move and to where
EAZA Ex-Situ Programmes (EEPs)
NEW MODEL
• Introduced 2018 (5 year role out)
• Population management programmes for 400 species
• Recommends strategies for the protection of zoo populations based on the specific roles that individual species can play in conservation, research, or education
• Change required due to the wide variety of reasons for species conservation for individual species
• Critically endangered animals
• Animals driven from a specific habitat.
• Public preconceptions about species that hamper conservation and fundraising efforts
• Animals bred for reintroduction programmes
• Animals bred to raise awareness of conservation issues that may not be well understood by the
public or legislators
- Taxon Advisory Groups (TAG) decide which species are to be managed under an EEP
- The EEP co-ordinator with the EEP species committee:
- Is responsible for the day-to-day management of each of the EAZA Ex situ Programmes
- Will develop, implement and update a Long Term Management Plan (LTMP)
- Manage the EEP studbook dataset
- Develop (non-)breeding and transfer recommendations, catering to the needs of EEP holders in alignment with the goals of the population.
- Publish the studbook and annual reports
EAZA Ex-Situ Programme: Hyena
- A bad name with the public
- The role of the new hyena EEP
- To educate the public on hyena social life
- To undertake research on Hyena social life
- Breeding conservation within social groups
- To educate on the role Hyenas play in removing disease carrying carcasses from the savannah.
- To show how each species contributes to the health of the world’s ecosystems
Studbooks
- Data base for individuals included in a captive breeding programme
- Primary objective is to facilitate the coordinated management of ex situ populations
- For each individual the studbooks should include:
- Identities of sire and dam
- Date and location of birth
- Full transaction history (names of owners and dates of ownership changes)
- Where animals have been obtained from or released into the wild, the studbook should record, if possible, details of the capture or release location
- Any individual identifiers (e.g. house names, local identification numbers, tags, transponders, tattoos)
- Any data on the reproductive potential of living animals (e.g. temporary contraception method and dates, permanent contraception such as castration)
- Date and location of death
- Cause(s) of death and information on disposal of body.
- Other information pertinent to a particular programme (e.g. sub-species, genetic analysis).
Studbook Data Systems
• From 1989 studbooks typically maintained in the DOS-based Single Population Analysis & Records Keeping System (SPARKS)
• SPARKS was developed by ISIS (International Species Information System)
• Since January 2017, SPARKS has gradually been replaced by ZIMS (Zoological
Information Management System)
• Digital studbook data set developed by Species360 (formally ISIS – International Species Information System)
• ZIMS for studbooks is now a requirement of EAZA for all EEPs
