Lecture 6b: Captive Breeding Programs and Species Recovery

Question 1

Extinction Crisis

Answer 1

There is a major extinction crisis
+150,300 species on the Red List

Question 2

What role do zoos have in saving species?

Answer 2

• animal husbandry and welfare expertise
• research and conservation science
• education and advocacy
• species recovery and stewardship

Question 3

Species Recovery - partnership

Answer 3

University researcher
Zoo Professional
Government, NGOs Biologists

• takes a city to recover a species
• require efforts at both the academic and applied field

Question 4

Partnership - resource sharing

Answer 4

• animals
• technical expertise
• facilities/experiment
• project funds

Question 5

Endangered Species Breeding Program

Answer 5

• Vancouver Island Marmot: one of the most endangered mammals in North America with about 200 remaining
• Black-footed ferret was once thought to be extinct, captive breeding has ensured its survival

Question 6

How do we achieve recovery?

Answer 6

• collaborating with Recovery Programs/SSP’s, multiple institutions, and organizations involved
• maintain as much genetic diversity as possible
• produce surplus offspring for reintroduction

Question 7

Why Captive Breeding?

Answer 7

• becomes the only viable option
• habitat loss, climate change, lack of food source issues

Question 8

Black-footed ferrets extinct?

Answer 8

• thought to be extinct
• put up posters to search if any remain

Question 9

reason for the decline in black-footed ferrets

Answer 9

• poisoning of prarie dogs
• loss of their primary food source and grassland habitats
• farmers were paid to kill them because they would create these burrows

Question 10

Black-footed ferret History

Answer 10

• population crash due to destruction of prarie dog habitat and disease
• 1981 - rediscovered thanks to a Farmer’s dog finding a dead one
• went to go look for them and found them
• last remaining 18 animals brought into captivity in 1987
• 7 of them actually reproduced
• the whole population’s genetics is based on those 7 individuals
• 6 institutions are participating in the managing the captive population (the only Canadian one)
• Development of successful breeding and release protocol
• protection of habitat, plague, distemper vaccines developed

Question 11

Black-footed ferret recovery - organization team

Answer 11

• zoological organizations
• government agencies
• private agencies
• state wildlife agencies
• numerous private stakeholders

takes a lot of organizations to recovery this species

Question 12

Studbook data

Answer 12

• each individual animal is put into the studbook
• given a studbook number
• keeps record of their genetics
• used to manage genetics and optimize the genetics of this population

Question 13

Breeding Matrix

Answer 13

• matrix to decide which is the best match
• 1 is the best
• dashes would never pair as it can have detrimental impact on the genetics of the captive population
• season and induced breeders : need the best match or lost that female for that whole year

Question 14

Breeding Techniques

Answer 14

• hands on breeding protocol developed
• Estrus cycle manipulated through diet and photoperiod
• animals restrained regularly to determine fertility
• females in estrus paired and behaviour videotaped

Question 15

Cytology

Answer 15

• checked regularly during the breeding session to determine reproductive readiness
• the study of cells using a microscope

Question 16

What indicates estrus from cytology

Answer 16

Vuval size and cornification of epithelial cells flushed from the vulval wall

Question 17

Electroejaculation

Answer 17

• procedure used to obtain semen samples from sexually mature male mammals
• characterize semen traits
• sperm cryopreservation
• fertility potential in males

Question 18

Sperm Morphology

Answer 18

• related to sperm function
• compromised by inbreeding
• bad structure: bent tail, coiled tail, and bent midpiece
• bad ones are taken out of the breeding program for that reason

Question 19

Assisted Reproduction

Answer 19

• artificial insemination used to improve founder representation and enhance reproductive efficiency in non-breeders
• when you bring old frozen sperms, you are boosting the genetic pool
• improve founder representation
• non-breeders
• boost genetic pool

Question 20

Shipping Restrictions

Answer 20

• USFWS Endangered Species Act
• CITIES Permits and Enhancement

Paperwork to send the ferrets to the states since we are Canadian institution

Question 21

Preconditioning Bootcamp

Answer 21

• once they reach 3 months of age in our facility to go to USFWS Carr, Colorado
• prepare them for release
• they have these huge habitats where they would release them - have to be able to survive these natural burrows

Question 22

Why do we monitor BFF?

Answer 22

• Determine success of reintroduction
• make reintroduction more successful
• learn about wild populations

Question 23

How are they monitored?

Answer 23

• spotlighting
• live-trapping

Question 24

Spotlighting

Answer 24

• primary method
• they are nocturnal -> only come out of burrows until night time
• given PIT tags - to ID them
• when spotlighting at night, give off green light eyes
• once you find them, go to the burrows, place the chip reader
• they would pop their head up (they are curious) and then we can monitor them

Question 25

Live trapping

Answer 25

• post-release 30 days
• fall monitoring where we go in with our hands
• to check their health and protect them from diseases
• cages mimic their burrows to capture them

Question 26

Sylvatic Plague

Answer 26

• disease
• fatal to prarie dogs and black-footed ferrets

Question 27

Montana

Answer 27

• this site was having amazing results
• got it from 0 to 383
• monitored the population
• but plague hut and in one year, it went to 8 ferrets

Question 28

Return of the Black-footed ferret to Canada

Answer 28

• was considered extirpated in Canada
• “Extirpated” in April 1978 by COSEWIC
• would not release them there
• it was thought that up north there wasn’t a big prarie dog population to support reintroduction so they have been releasing them into U.S. and Mexico
• Canadian recovery team was established in 2004
• In June 2004 - workshop took place
• 27 scientists and managers from the US and Canada got together in Grasslands National Park
• scoped the area
• found high density of prarie dogs
• established a recovery team

Question 29

VORTEX Population Habitat Viability Took Place

Answer 29

• computer stimulation
• provide all their information (birth rate, longetivity)
• it would produce the probability of survival/persistance

Question 30

Recovery Goal in Canada

Answer 30

Establish a population in Canada that has a less than 20% probability of extinction in 20 years

Question 31

Canadian Monitoring Efforts

Answer 31

• first monitoring period: 30 days post-release -> determine early survival rates
• surveyed every spring (late March/early April) -> determine winter survival and spatial distribution
• Monitoring surveys and live trappings -> estimate annual population size and litter production

Question 32

What happened to the released BFF in Canada in 2010?

Answer 32

a prarie dog was infected with plague

Question 33

Dusting

Answer 33

Parks Canada has been given approval to apply insecticide (DeltaDust) on targeted dog colonies. This is to reduce flea populations, the carriers of the plague.

Question 34

Drones

Answer 34

Used to distribute peanut butter balls that acted as oral vaccines for prarie dogs to protect them against the plague

Question 35

Challenges

Answer 35

• 2012 was the last release
• during fall monitoring 2014-2016, no ferrets were found
• new: they are susceptible to coronaviruses