Species that need breeding programs?

Jurek7 said:
Infertile eggs are common in zoo flamingos, it is because many pinioned males cannot balance during copulation. There are many further problems, for example many flocks are made mostly of males which disturbs breeding.

Slimbridge could pass the breeding couples (hopefully they can identify them) to Berlin. There is another problem because the aviary in Berlin is really small, but hopefully they can extend it. Sad to see yet another threatened species going extinct in zoos.
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Having watched our flock of Greaters slowly mature over the years, getting steadily more and more successful, Jurek7 is quite right, there is indeed a lot of infertility in captive flocks. I am not so convinced that it is so much a balance issue, as Flamingoes wings are small and do not give the lift of a Crane or Stork. Sex imbalance is probably more important, as there is so much bickering when a flock is breeding, males can easily get knocked off or disturbed in other ways whilst attempting to mate. These birds are very long-lived, so young or new flocks often perform worse, and breeding activity can very easily be disrupted. However the first thing to do with an established flock which is under-performing is to get them sexed and individually marked in some way, so that you can actually see what is going on.
 
Another species: Crested Argus pheasant or pheasants.

Recently split into two species, both are highly endangered in South-East Asia due to poaching and also habitat loss. This is a beautiful bird, and related Great Argus readily breeds in zoos. For some reason, Crested Argus never reached Western collections in recent years.
 
I have a feeling that not everyone will like this idea, but I think more breeding programs for endangered heritage breeds of farm animals would be really cool. Some of these heritage breeds not only look really cool, but can serve as really cool educational displays, particularly for children. It would be really neat if african pygmy goats and other "normal" farm animals are replaced with endangered heritage breeds.
 
Neil chace said:
I have a feeling that not everyone will like this idea, but I think more breeding programs for endangered heritage breeds of farm animals would be really cool. Some of these heritage breeds not only look really cool, but can serve as really cool educational displays, particularly for children. It would be really neat if african pygmy goats and other "normal" farm animals are replaced with endangered heritage breeds.
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Some zoos do this, although personally I think these breeding programs are best handled by farms and domestic breed associations. I recognize the potential value of farmyards in zoos, but a zoo's main focus should be wild animals imo.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Some zoos do this, although personally I think these breeding programs are best handled by farms and domestic breed associations. I recognize the potential value of farmyards in zoos, but a zoo's main focus should be wild animals imo.

~Thylo
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I would agree, but I think if the farm animals already in the zoo were replaced by endangered breeds, this would be very cool. They also wouldn't have to take up more space that could be used for wild endangered animals.
 
Neil chace said:
To go along with the domestic ferrets that I propose we replace black-footed ferrets with!
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I know this is a joke, but I don't think domestic ferrets are bred in the United States. The only place that does is Frazier Farms, which is an awful mass-breeding facility. I think people can get permits to be able to breed them, but it's really difficult.
 
EsserWarrior said:
I know this is a joke, but I don't think domestic ferrets are bred in the United States. The only place that does is Frazier Farms, which is an awful mass-breeding facility. I think people can get permits to be able to breed them, but it's really difficult.
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I do know that all the ones in the US have massive inbreeding problems, so it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe we will need to import some founders from Europe to start this program, lol.
 
EsserWarrior said:
I know this is a joke, but I don't think domestic ferrets are bred in the United States. The only place that does is Frazier Farms, which is an awful mass-breeding facility. I think people can get permits to be able to breed them, but it's really difficult.
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Are all pet ferrets bred at this farm?

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Are all pet ferrets bred at this farm?

~Thylo
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For the most part, yes. They are usually identifiable by tattoos in their ears. All ferrets must be spayed/neutered when sold as pets, so other people aren't able to breed them. It also might have to do with the fact that people could potentially release them in the wild, which could do damage to native ecosystems.
 
Also, laws against collecting many endangered species, such as CITES I listings, mean that it’s hard for the average hobbyist with money, or even reputable institutions, to start their own captive breeding program for fish, herps, insects, etc.
 
RatioTile said:
Also, laws against collecting many endangered species mean that it’s hard for the average person with money to start their own captive breeding program for fish, herps, insects, etc.
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Thank god, there are already enough irresponsible practices going on in the private trade, with people claiming to "save" species by illegally exporting species. There are enough serious private breeders, but given all the current problems with (illegal) harvesting from wild population, there is really no space for more depleting of wild stocks.
 
lintworm said:
Thank god, there are already enough irresponsible practices going on in the private trade, with people claiming to "save" species by illegally exporting species. There are enough serious private breeders, but given all the current problems with (illegal) harvesting from wild population, there is really no space for more depleting of wild stocks.
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I couldn't agree more. I witnessed this in real-time over the past 5 or so years in the tarantula hobby. Species in the genus Poecilotheria ("pokies") were on track to be listed under CITES, and eventually were in full as of last year. Beautiful spiders, check out P. metallica if you're not an arachnophobe.

Long story short: the hobbyist catastrophizing was exhausting. To give them credit (it's not a genus I've personally kept or worked with) the hobby has been super successful in propagating them, for just $80 you too can own a spiderling that's critically endangered in the wild. But in the buildup to CITES, "they're coming to take my pokies!" was the rallying cry. Responses ranged from trying to coordinate increased captive breeding with a final batch of new legally imported founders, to some folks celebrating "brown-boxing" inverts (unmarked packages bypassing customs), to neo-colonial "the people of Sri Lanka can't conserve their habitat, only WE can save it" garbage. The last of which peaked with a guy fundraising to buy a section of Sri Lankan forest and set up a dubious field station, and maaay have been a scam. Never found out how that panned out.
 
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Xenarthra said:
I couldn't agree more. I witnessed this in real-time over the past 5 or so years in the tarantula hobby. Species in the genus Poecilotheria ("pokies") were on track to be listed under CITES, and eventually were in full as of last year. Beautiful spiders, check out P. metallica if you're not an arachnophobe.

Long story short: the hobbyist catastrophizing was exhausting. To give them credit (it's not a genus I've personally kept or worked with) the hobby has been super successful in propagating them, for just $80 you too can own a spiderling that's critically endangered in the wild. But in the buildup to CITES, "they're coming to take my pokies!" was the rallying cry. Responses ranged from trying to coordinate increased captive breeding with a final batch of new legally imported founders, to some folks celebrating "brown-boxing" inverts (unmarked packages bypassing customs), to neo-colonial "the people of Sri Lanka can't conserve their habitat, only WE can save them" garbage. The last of which peaked with a guy fundraising to buy a section of Sri Lankan forest and set up a dubious field station, and maaay have been a scam. Never found out how that panned out.
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Related to the above, and on topic I suppose, there's multiple genera of tarantulas that are endangered and could use some attention outside of the pet trade :D As well as many species not accessible to hobbyists, but that zoos might be able to obtain.

One nice thing with spiders and other inverts is that if you have the the husbandry down and can get the newborns through the first few instars, you're often golden. The r-selection strategy of tons of offspring, due to high mortality from predators and the environment, can work in your favor as an egg sac in human care can have an 80% or better survival rate. A couple of successful offspring in the wild could be hundreds in captivity. Habitat destruction will still be a huge obstacle, but ex-situ populations aren't wildly challenging to build up or maintain for many species.
 
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