Species saved by conservation

tetrapod

tetrapod

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I am looking for any references or lists that cover all species that has been successfully saved by conservation measures (not just by zoos). I realise that there are plenty of articles on the internet and books written about specific examples (usually the famous ones like california condors or black robins) or they may cover a range of species. However I have been unable to locate a list which covers all species. I'm particularly interested in minimum number of individuals prior to their comeback - the mauritius kestrel being probably the most spectacular rise from 4 individuals. Larger animals seem to be relatively easy to search information on, but inverts and fish are pretty sparse for info.

At this stage I am not particularly interested in species where no conservation program is in place, or the conservation strategy is not working successfully. Species that fit this category (in my mind) would include northern white rhino, sumatran rhino, saola or yangtze softshell turtle.

Aside from the information that I have already gleaned does anybody have a list of which Partula species were brought into captivity and what the original populations were?

I already have formed a preliminary list of about 60 odd species (where the population dropped to below 100 individuals), but there are definitely more that could be added.
 
Pere David's Deer and Pzewalski's Horse and Nene. Or is Captive Breeding a different category from Conservation?

Asiatic Lion and Southern White Rhinoceros always maintained wild populations to be Conserved. Attwater's Prarie Chicken and Whooping Crane. American Crocodile. Most large whale species.
 
tetrapod said:
I am looking for any references or lists that cover all species that has been successfully saved by conservation measures (not just by zoos). I realise that there are plenty of articles on the internet and books written about specific examples (usually the famous ones like california condors or black robins) or they may cover a range of species. However I have been unable to locate a list which covers all species. I'm particularly interested in minimum number of individuals prior to their comeback - the mauritius kestrel being probably the most spectacular rise from 4 individuals. Larger animals seem to be relatively easy to search information on, but inverts and fish are pretty sparse for info.
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I've never seen such a list myself. It's quite a broad topic, one would think, and would depend on your limits (e.g. presumably just full species and not populations or subspecies [but then you've got all that pesky splitting that goes on]) and how you interpret "saved". I think you'd probably have to keep doing what you've already done, and look them up individually. Which I guess is difficult once you've taken care of all the better-known ones.

The Black Robin, by the way, has only two founders so beats the Mauritius Kestrel :p


tetrapod said:
Aside from the information that I have already gleaned does anybody have a list of which Partula species were brought into captivity and what the original populations were?
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there is a chapter entitled "A review of the captive-breeding programme for Polynesian tree snails Partula spp" in volume 30 of the IZY (1991) which may answer that. I haven't read it myself.

This brief note from 1996 says there are 33 taxa in the breeding programme, presumably excluding P. turgida which had just become extinct at London Zoo: https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...e-for-others/435EB0F094BF9AE37439C11EBB735017
 
Chlidonias said:
I think goden hamster falls well outside the purpose of the thread though?
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Can you give me a reason? Well, you're right at a point: any animal species is outside the purpose of the thread, because the thread is not for tell species to the author, but for give him a complete list of them. But the list should include species that are now living thanks to conservation efforts (i.e. breeding in captivity the last remaining wild individuals). A species that only count with an adult male, an adult female and their litter in the whole world, and that now is widespread in captivity elsewhere, is not the most matching species in the wolrd for this thread?!?!?!?!??!?!??!?!??!?!?! Why??????????? I suppose that also you will not include guppies (Poecilia reticulata), Endler's guppies (Poecilia wingei), red-tailes "sharks" (Epalzeorhynchus bicolor), axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) or none of the other species extinct or almost extinct in the wild and now common outside zoos as domestic pets??? So you considere that for be inside the purpose of this thread, the animal in question must be still enough rare for be only in zoos?????????? (also some people have Bali's mynahs as pets... not many, but there are)
 
Kakapo said:
Can you give me a reason? Well, you're right at a point: any animal species is outside the purpose of the thread, because the thread is not for tell species to the author, but for give him a complete list of them. But the list should include species that are now living thanks to conservation efforts (i.e. breeding in captivity the last remaining wild individuals). A species that only count with an adult male, an adult female and their litter in the whole world, and that now is widespread in captivity elsewhere, is not the most matching species in the wolrd for this thread?!?!?!?!??!?!??!?!??!?!?! Why??????????? I suppose that also you will not include guppies (Poecilia reticulata), Endler's guppies (Poecilia wingei), red-tailes "sharks" (Epalzeorhynchus bicolor), axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) or none of the other species extinct or almost extinct in the wild and now common outside zoos as domestic pets??? So you considere that for be inside the purpose of this thread, the animal in question must be still enough rare for be only in zoos?????????? (also some people have Bali's mynahs as pets... not many, but there are)
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well it would really be up to tetrapod to say whether it is or isn't within the scope of his intention for the thread, but the way I understood it he was discussing species "saved by conservation measures" - that is, species which have had specific measures taken to prevent them becoming extinct (and by extension I am also assuming he means to have them in sufficient numbers in the wild).

There are at least a couple of obvious reasons golden hamsters don't fit in with that: firstly that there is no conservation aspect to hamsters being kept as pets (I'd like to hear any if you can name any legitimate ones); secondly that the story about all golden hamsters being derived from that one capture and that none still exist in the wild is entirely untrue.

In terms of certain aquarium fish which now exist only or largely in the aquarium trade, such as red-tailed sharks or cherry barbs - this has nothing to do with conservation but exactly the opposite. The reason they are gone from the wild is because they have been over-fished for the aquarium trade. (But there are, of course, some species - especially of cichlids - which were deliberately taken into captivity for conservation reasons).
 
Chlidonias said:
There are at least a couple of obvious reasons golden hamsters don't fit in with that: firstly that there is no conservation aspect to hamsters being kept as pets (I'd like to hear any if you can name any legitimate ones); secondly that the story about all golden hamsters being derived from that one capture and that none still exist in the wild is entirely untrue.

In terms of certain aquarium fish which now exist only or largely in the aquarium trade, such as red-tailed sharks or cherry barbs - this has nothing to do with conservation but exactly the opposite. The reason they are gone from the wild is because they have been over-fished for the aquarium trade. (But there are, of course, some species - especially of cichlids - which were deliberately taken into captivity for conservation reasons).
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Wow, dear Chli! That's the kind of reply that satisfy me a lot! We could debate about if golden hamsters was first saved for conservation purposes, don't minding if today they're seen as pets only. But the thing that interest me a lot if the fact that all of them derive from one family is just an urban legend! Can you provide me links or tell me arguments about the false legend of the origin of today's population of golden hamster?

About fishes, that's surprising new for me. Certainly here are economic intentions for these fishes but I always tought that they was first endangered (usually by pollution, dams, invasive exotic fishes, etc) and after commercialized. In fact, is usual that very shortly after a new fish species is discovered, soon is found in aquarium commerces over the world (who didn't saw a Danio margaritatus ("rasbora galaxy")? I even kept one, now substituted by D. erythromicron). But certainly there are some cases that are very probably as you tell: endangered by overfishing for aquarium trade must be the case of clown loach (Botia macracantha), a fish that is almost impossible to breed in captivity, almost extint in the wild, and extremely common in any home aquarium. But I think that both Botia as the other fishes mentioned, have their today's captive population entirely produced by artificial insemination and captive breeding under laboratory conditions... (not for guppies that are the easiest fish to breed). Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, a fish that almost every aquarist (and there are zillions) keep at their home aquariums, is very easy to reintroduce in the wild... I don't know if it's done already with some of these species.

Sorry if the debate is going away from the original purpose of this thread :( If you want, Chlidonias, you can reply me by private messages for let this thread for the "complete species list" and the partula snails...
 
Chlidonias said:
how has the crested gecko (I'm assuming Correlophus ciliatus of New Caledonia?) been saved by conservation measures?
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Yes, believe it or not!
Not long ago (at the end of the 20th century), it was believed that they were extinct. This animal is a symbol to show that the captive breeding save species.
 
FelipeDBKO said:
Yes, believe it or not!
Not long ago (at the end of the 20th century), it was believed that they were extinct. This animal is a symbol to show that the captive breeding save species.
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but... it hasn't. The species was rediscovered in 1994 and is now reasonably common in captivity via private reptile keepers. But it is still also found in a number of areas in the wild. The population is thought to be decreasing due to factors like deforestation and smuggling, but it is not at any point near to being in a situation where "the captive population has saved this species from extinction".
 
Kakapo said:
Wow, dear Chli! That's the kind of reply that satisfy me a lot! We could debate about if golden hamsters was first saved for conservation purposes, don't minding if today they're seen as pets only. But the thing that interest me a lot if the fact that all of them derive from one family is just an urban legend! Can you provide me links or tell me arguments about the false legend of the origin of today's population of golden hamster?
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my main point regarding golden hamsters was the one about them being extinct in the wild, and only secondarily that they aren't necessarily all directly related. The story is always "all the hamsters are from one group, and they have never been seen again/are extinct in the wild". It is true that pet golden hamsters were almost- or entirely derived from that original capture in 1930, but there was also the addition of 22 wild-caught animals to Germany at the end of the 1990s. Wikipedia also notes animals going to the USA from Syria in 1971 which may or may not have entered the population there.

As for the wild population, the IUCN currently lists them as Vulnerable, and notes that they are the major pest of crops in Syria and are considered pests there.

The original animals were caught and bred as lab animals, not for any conservation purpose, and later entered the pet trade. Regardless of how many individuals originated the captive population though, that hasn't "saved the species" because they are still there in the wild and pet hamsters have absolutely no impact on the status of the wild population.
 
Pertinax said:
The way I heard it in NZ, there were two females and three males, but the 2nd pair didn't contribute, so it was up to Old Blue and her partner.
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when the rescue efforts first started there were seven birds. Two were killed in a rockslide in 1977, leaving five. One was Old Blue and another was a juvenile female to be named Old Green. Both females bred but none of Old Green's chicks survived. Old Blue was already almost twice a Black Robin's normal lifespan when she started breeding, and unusually she swapped partners to pair up with Old Yellow who turned out to be the only successful male (usually the pair bonds in the birds were lifelong). The whole story of the Black Robin's survival is one of almost constant flukes and miracles.

Don Merton gives a good summary of all the fortuitous examples here: http://newzealandecology.org/nzje/1918.pdf
 
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