tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/species-reintroductions-21722/articlesSpecies reintroductions – The Conversation2023-06-25T13:35:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062802023-06-25T13:35:02Z2023-06-25T13:35:02ZZoos and universities must work together to safeguard wildlife and improve conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532140/original/file-20230615-29-koig6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C19%2C2363%2C1545&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A conservation researcher counts ringtailed lemurs for a zoo's annual stock take. Zoos have the capacity to do more for conservation science and practice.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jon Super).</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “zoo” is complicated and can have different meanings to different people. For some, a zoo is an organization committed to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/18/zoos-play-a-vital-role-in-animal-conservation-across-the-world">animal well-being and wildlife conservation</a> that offers its visitors a fun and educational experience. To others, it is a place where people pay to see <a href="https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/how-to-help-animals/params/post/1280916/whats-wrong-with-zoos">exotic animals in poor conditions</a>. </p>
<p>Zoos — a shortening of zoological gardens — can refer to both zoos and aquariums. Zoos accredited by bodies such as <a href="https://www.aza.org/">the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)</a> and <a href="https://www.eaza.net/">the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria</a> make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27806-2">important contributions</a> to conservation and the recovery of endangered species.</p>
<p>With more than 700 million visitors receiving conservation education globally and more than US$350 million spent on wildlife conservation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20369">zoos are the third largest contributors to conservation initiatives after The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund</a>. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, many zoos have the capacity to do more for conservation science and practice. We see this potential in the groundbreaking work of zoos with global reach including <a href="https://www.chesterzoo.org/what-we-do/">Chester Zoo</a>, <a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/fighting-extinction/">Zoos Victoria</a> and the <a href="https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/">San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance</a>. </p>
<h2>The modern zoo</h2>
<p>Zoos continue to renegotiate their social contract with the public as societal values change. Today, the modern zoo must focus not only on the well-being of its animals, but also emphasize its impact on conservation. </p>
<p>In Canada, the Calgary Zoo has established the <a href="https://wilderinstitute.org/">Wilder Institute</a> with a vision to become “Canada’s leader in wildlife conservation.” The <a href="https://www.torontozoo.com/">Toronto Zoo</a> has a mission of “Connecting people, animals and conservation science to fight extinction.” </p>
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<p>These, and other <a href="https://espacepourlavie.ca/projets-de-conservation-du-biodome">examples, highlight the continued shift toward investing in conservation science</a> by zoos in Canada, with an increased focus on collaborative research.</p>
<h2>How do zoos produce research in conservation science?</h2>
<p>While many zoos have dedicated staff for conservation projects, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20215">collaboration with universities</a> can help zoos increase their contribution to conservation science. </p>
<p>Historically, in Canada and other countries, most published research from zoos is related to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2019-0052">veterinary sciences</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2017-0083">not conservation</a>. Academic institutions can provide scientific and technical expertise in conservation science, as well as access to envelopes of funding that are not available to zoos alone. </p>
<p>University researchers have rigorous science communication requirements that include not only publication in <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BES-Peer-Review-Guide-2017_web.pdf">peer-reviewed journals</a>, but conference presentations, lectures and more. When zoos collaborate with universities, they have greater access to funding for conservation research and produce accessible research for conservation practitioners, researchers and the public alike. </p>
<p>At universities, graduate students as well as post-doctoral researchers perform the majority of research, supervised by a professor in a mentor-mentee relationship. Collaborating with graduate students and their mentors can help zoos address any ongoing conservation challenges. </p>
<h2>ReNewZoo as a model</h2>
<p>In 2016, our team of ten academics and zoo practitioners received funding from the <a href="https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/index_eng.asp">Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)</a> to launch <a href="https://www.renewzoo.ca/">ReNewZoo</a>, a training program for graduate students in zoo conservation science. </p>
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<p>We involved six universities and five zoos from across Canada, providing training and internships for Master’s and PhD students as well as post-doctoral researchers. The goal of the program was to integrate graduate students and their research into Canadian and international zoos, bridging the gap with universities. </p>
<p>As part of this program, graduate students conducted their thesis projects in collaboration with zoos and had zoo staff on their advisory committees. </p>
<p>We integrated our annual symposium with the annual meeting of <a href="https://caza.ca/">Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums</a> where students presented their work to potential future employers and listened to experts speak about issues in zoo conservation science and the business of zoos. Our students then interned with zoos for a first-hand look at the daily operations of a zoo. </p>
<p>Finally, we had an online course where academics and practitioners met with our students to discuss the important issues facing zoo conservation. The students learned about the science of zoo conservation, as well as the history and ethics of zoos and their role in conservation.</p>
<h2>A success story</h2>
<p>But did it work? ReNewZoo supported 26 early career researchers working with zoos including the Toronto Zoo, Calgary Zoo, Vancouver Aquarium, the Insectarium de Montréal and the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg. </p>
<p>And these student researchers have already made many discoveries that can inform conservation practice. </p>
<p>In one such project involving the breeding and reintroduction of the endangered redside dace — a small, colourful stream fish — within Ontario’s Great Lakes region, Andy Turko, a ReNewZoo postdoctoral fellow, found that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2020-0377">thermal (temperature) tolerance of the fish’s source populations</a> is critical to the success of the reintroduction process.</p>
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<p>Another ReNewZoo student, Damien Mullin, in collaboration with the Toronto Zoo, proved that headstarting — a breeding-centric conservation strategy where hatchlings are kept in captivity for a period of time before reintroduction — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22390">improves survival in the endangered wood turtle</a>. </p>
<p>He, however, also found that keeping juvenile wood turtles in captivity for longer than a year did not improve survival much more. Zoos can now use this information to optimize their conservation strategies. </p>
<p>While Turko and Mullin made discoveries that can boost the success rate of reintroduced endangered species, ReNewZoo student Léa Fieschi-Méric found a way to successfully move endangered amphibians.</p>
<p>The skin of amphibians houses a community of bacteria that helps resist pathogens. Moving these species to support their recovery in the wild through the process of <a href="https://thewilderinstitute.org/conservation/conservation-translocations/#:%7E:text=">conservation translocation </a> can disrupt these communities of bacteria.</p>
<p>By successfully moving yellow-spotted salamander larvae from one lake to another in an experiment, Fieschi-Méric found that translocation <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16914">does not disrupt the community of bacteria living on the skin</a>.</p>
<p>The resulting peer-reviewed publications from these and other students are now available for academics and, most importantly, conservation practitioners to use and learn from. </p>
<h2>Bringing zoos and universities together</h2>
<p>Bringing zoos and universities together takes time, energy and money. But the benefits for conservation are far-reaching. We suggest a three-pronged approach to bridge these two types of institutions.</p>
<p>The foundation of any relationship is trust. Fostering connections between the people working at zoos and universities by conducting joint events, with invited speakers from each institution is a good way to start building the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icb/article-abstract/62/5/1174/6623667?login=true">level of trust that will lead to productive collaborations</a>. </p>
<p>Graduate students are the bridge between zoos and universities. Funding graduate students and their stipends to work with zoos serves two purposes. First, the graduate students perform the actual research. Second, they serve as a source for new staff at the zoo, particularly related to roles in conservation. </p>
<p>Finally, formalizing the connections between zoos and universities with collaborative agreements, joint research appointments and even shared facilities will promote the sustainability of these relationships. </p>
<p>Collectively, these measures will enhance the conservation impact of zoos and universities and improve the chances that endangered species will survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lesbarrères receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He works as a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriela Mastromonaco receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trevor Pitcher receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).</span></em></p>Zoos have the potential to do more for growing conservation science and practice.Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde, Professor, Applied Evolutionary Ecology, Laurentian UniversityDavid Lesbarrères, Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, Laurentian UniversityGabriela Mastromonaco, Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Sciences, University of GuelphTrevor Pitcher, Professor, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994512023-02-17T12:09:58Z2023-02-17T12:09:58ZReintroducing top predators to the wild is risky but necessary – here’s how we can ensure they survive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509239/original/file-20230209-20-7c87m0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1272%2C848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Collared leopard being released into North Ossetia, Russia in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pavel Padalko</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Large carnivores are critical to the balance of an ecosystem. In Yellowstone National Park in the western US, <a href="https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Gray-Wolf">grey wolves</a> keep elk populations at a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320711004046">healthy level</a>. This prevents vegetation from being overgrazed and leads to taller woody plants which allow other species, such as beavers, to flourish. </p>
<p>But habitat loss and persecution have <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1241484">eliminated</a> many large carnivores from their historical environment. The Eurasian lynx could be found in the UK over a thousand years ago and wolves roamed the country until the mid-18th century.</p>
<p>However, our attitudes towards these animals are gradually changing and large carnivores are now viewed by many as the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1257553">victims of human expansion</a>. Many areas are seeing these animals return as a result. Yellowstone’s grey wolves were reintroduced in 1995 after 70 years, and in 2020, voters approved <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2022/09/09/where-colorado-will-reintroduce-wolves/">the species’ reintroduction</a> to the state of Colorado.</p>
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<p>Like these wolves, many other species require human intervention to reach their former habitats. But this is costly, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rec.13243">controversial</a> and often ends in failure. The relocation of a single animal can <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105042">cost thousands</a> and once released, these animals can <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/COBI.12959">prey on local livestock</a>.</p>
<p>But since 2007, we’ve seen <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877343520300592">technological advances</a> in wildlife monitoring, <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/2013-009.pdf">improved guidelines</a> for carrying out reintroductions and the global <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/">rewilding movement</a> gathering pace.</p>
<p>These factors make now the perfect moment to determine whether carnivore reintroductions are becoming more effective. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.109909">new study</a>, my colleagues and I studied the success of almost 300 carnivore reintroductions worldwide involving 18 different species between 2007 and 2021.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four maps split by continent showing the locations of the reintroductions studied." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Global distribution of the large carnivore reintroductions studied.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Thomas et al (2023)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Indicators of success</h2>
<p>Between 2007 and 2021, 66% of all the reintroduced carnivores studied were still alive six months later. Survival at the six month mark was our measure of success.</p>
<p>Success rates for wild-born carnivores increased from 53% to 70%, while twice the number of captive-born animals (64%) now survive reintroduction than did so in 2007. </p>
<p>The most successful species in our study were <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/maned-wolf">maned wolves</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/puma-mammal-species">pumas</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/ocelot">ocelots</a>. In contrast, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/lion">lions</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/brown-hyena">brown hyenas</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/cheetah-mammal">cheetahs</a>, <a href="https://wildcatconservation.org/wild-cats/eurasia/iberian-lynx/">Iberian lynx</a> and grey wolves were least able to survive their new environment.</p>
<p>We tested various factors, all of which were under the project manager’s control, that influence the success of animal reintroductions – practical changes that could improve the outcome of future rewilding efforts.</p>
<p>So-called “soft releases”, where animals are allowed an acclimation period at the release site anywhere between <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105042">10 days and 5 months</a> long, had a clear influence on survival. These releases had an 82% success rate compared to just 60% for releases with no period of adjustment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A puma walking next to a chain fence in a forested area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A puma in a pre-release enclosure before being released into Serra do Japi, São Paulo, Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Associação Mata Ciliar</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Younger animals and those born in the wild were also more likely to survive reintroduction. Wild-born animals had a 72% survival rate compared to 64% for animals born in captivity. This is good news for rehabilitated and orphaned carnivores which are taken from the wild for their survival. These animals represent a sizeable proportion of all reintroduced carnivores and made up 22% of the animals in our study. </p>
<p>We found higher success rates when carnivores were released into unfenced areas. This is surprising as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.12091">research</a> finds that fenced nature reserves tend to support higher densities of carnivores and reduce conflict with humans. </p>
<p>But greater competition for resources and direct conflict with other carnivores in these reserves may have a negative impact on the survival of reintroduced animals. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15627020.2003.11657196">Research</a> on the range and movement patterns of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wild_dog">African wild dogs</a> in South Africa’s fenced Pilanesberg National Park found that the dogs actively avoid interaction with lions.</p>
<h2>Rewilding on the horizon – but there’s a catch</h2>
<p>Large carnivore reintroductions are becoming more effective, prompting countries to consider reintroducing large predators. In the UK, debates are ongoing surrounding the possible <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315175454-6/community-divided-steven-lipscombe-chris-white-adam-eagle-erwin-van-maanen">reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx</a>. Our findings could help inform their release. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eurasian-lynx-how-our-computer-model-highlighted-the-best-site-for-restoring-this-wild-cat-to-scotland-113624">Eurasian lynx: how our computer model highlighted the best site for restoring this wild cat to Scotland</a>
</strong>
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<p>But our research also highlights the alarming fact that one-third of all large carnivore reintroductions fail. And even when successful, the establishment of a population has proved a challenge. Just 37% of the animals that survived reintroduction successfully reproduced and the number of animals who will have raised young to adulthood is likely even lower. It seems that many rewilded animals take far longer than six months to establish themselves in an ecosystem and find a potential mate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lynx being released into the wild." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A male lynx was released together with two female lynx in the Slovenian Alps in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Polona Bartol</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Preventing species loss in their current ranges should thus always take priority. This will involve measures to tackle urbanisation and climate change, which are at present two leading causes of global habitat loss. </p>
<p>Despite their increasing success, the reintroduction of large carnivores still leads to the death of many of the animals involved and often fails to establish a population. The risky nature of these interventions makes it even more important that they have local support or they are likely doomed to fail from the start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seth Thomas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research studies the factors that determine whether large carnivore reintroductions will be a success.Seth Thomas, Research assistant, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761032022-02-03T13:20:13Z2022-02-03T13:20:13ZCranes: why Britain’s tallest bird just had its best breeding year since the 1600s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444252/original/file-20220203-25-y6gm9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3833%2C2553&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Upton/RSPB</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Binoculars in hand, I’m hunkered down beside the floodplain at the RSPB’s <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/nene-washes/">Nene Washes nature reserve</a> in Cambridgeshire, England. It’s a cold, late-winter morning and there are few people around, but I’ve come early to try to get a glimpse of a giant among British birds: the common crane.</p>
<p>There are few wildlife spectacles as impressive as cranes performing their courtship dance. The graceful, leggy common crane (<em>Grus grus</em>) stands at a lofty four-foot tall. It has a dove-grey body, black-and-white neck, crimson crown, and a black bustle. It is one of the loudest birds in Europe too: their deep, bugling call <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/how-wetland-restoration-gave-cranes-a-second-chance-in-britain/">can be heard 6km away</a>.</p>
<p>Pairs are monogamous and stay together throughout the year, reinforcing their special pair bond each spring. They strut their stuff, in a dance consisting of elaborate leaps, bows and pirouettes, trumpeting as they go.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Ky5qqRyZXg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It’s hard to imagine this was once a familiar sight and sound in the UK, yet 400 years ago cranes were common across the country’s wetlands. They were also, unfortunately, a favourite dish at medieval feasts: some 115 cranes were reportedly served at Henry III’s Christmas banquet at York in 1251. Pressure from hunters, combined with shrinking wetlands, led to their extinction as a breeding bird around 1600, with the fenlands of East Anglia remaining one of their last strongholds. </p>
<p>Once lost, cranes became a rare visitor. Between 1773 and 1950, there were just 73 records in the UK as passage migrants: in spring heading towards northern Europe and in autumn heading south towards Iberia. It wasn’t until the 1950s that crane visits became annual, thanks to a recovering population in continental Europe.</p>
<p>I’m watching cranes now thanks to the work of dedicated conservationists. First, by a handful of people who made it their mission to bring cranes back, and increasingly, by partnerships of like-minded people and organisations. This has involved careful guarding of nest sites as cranes reappeared under their own steam in East Anglia, alongside a carefully designed captive breeding programme in south-west England.</p>
<p>These efforts are paying off: 2021 proved to be the most successful year for cranes since the 17th century. A record-breaking 72 pairs were present in the UK, 65 of which attempted to breed, rearing an impressive 40 chicks. The total population, counting breeding and non-breeding birds, is thought to stand at over 200.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A slender, brown chick with long legs and yellow beak amid tall grass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A three-week old crane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Upton/RSPB</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The long road to recovery</h2>
<p>It was in the autumn of 1979 that two cranes reappeared in the Norfolk Broads. These (presumed wild) birds paired up and attempted to breed in 1981 without success, but in the following year managed to fledge a single chick – thought to be the first in the UK for over 400 years. Another followed in 1983. </p>
<p>Recolonisation proceeded very slowly in part because these long-lived birds can take four years to mature and typically only lay two eggs. The number of chicks remained low under high levels of predation, the main culprits being foxes. Just four young fledged from 14 breeding attempts over the first 11 years. </p>
<p>In 1992, it was decided that cranes needed a helping hand and captive breeding was trialled, but without success. The population’s fortunes seemed to change in the late 1990s, as their productivity improved and more and more young were successfully raised. This boost, along with work to restore and improve existing wetlands, enticed them to other parts of England, including <a href="https://www.humberheadpeatlands.org.uk/">Natural England’s Humberhead Peatlands</a>, RSPB’s Lakenheath and where I sat in the Nene Washes. </p>
<p>In 2006, the RSPB, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Viridor Credits launched <a href="http://www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk/">the Great Crane Project</a> with the aim of returning breeding cranes to other parts of their former range. In 2010, 20 hand-reared juvenile cranes <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-10894554">were released</a> onto the Somerset Levels and Moors and this population has steadily grown and expanded its range. Now, cranes are nesting in many English counties, and have even returned to Scotland and Wales.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two adult cranes with three adolescents in the background in a yellow-coloured field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christine and Gilbert call in a stubbly barley field at dawn, surrounded by three adolescent cranes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Upton/RSPB</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Staring over the floodplain, my patience is rewarded as the sedge (the collective noun for a group of cranes) flies in. Here on the washes, the marshland provides the perfect place for protective parents to raise chicks during the summer. But cranes are notoriously difficult to spot when they have chicks and are generally wary. The best time to see them is during the winter when they form flocks and it is always best to watch from a good distance to avoid disturbing them.</p>
<p>On this reserve, they roost overnight, waking at sunrise, and flopping over to feed on adjacent arable land. Cranes eat a variety of food in the breeding season, including invertebrates, lizards, small fish and frogs – all important fuel for their growing chicks. During the winter, they are mainly vegetarian and will feed on root vegetables left over in the fields.</p>
<p>Around 50 of these majestic birds now swoop down to land. They seem more preoccupied with finding food than performing courtship displays. Things are looking up for cranes. I can see several pairs with one, or even two, downy young in tow, and it makes me excited for their future.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gregory works for the RSPB as the Head of Monitoring within the Centre for Conservation Science.
</span></em></p>These wetland birds were eradicated in the 17th century, but breeding pairs returned in 1979.Richard Gregory, Honorary Professor of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643012021-07-26T08:11:43Z2021-07-26T08:11:43ZSouth Korea is bringing back bears in a country of 52 million people – I went to find out how<p>The return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 popularised the idea of reintroducing long-lost species to modern habitats. While scientists are still trying to fully understand the ecological consequences, the wolf’s reintroduction likely <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolf-restoration.htm">benefited other species</a>, illustrating how conservation can not just slow biodiversity loss, but even reverse it. </p>
<hr>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>That project, however, took place in a vast protected wilderness. Many of the places where biologists now hope to reintroduce large wild animals – whether it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/eurasian-lynx-how-our-computer-model-highlighted-the-best-site-for-restoring-this-wild-cat-to-scotland-113624">lynx in Britain</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-so-fast-why-indias-plan-to-reintroduce-cheetahs-may-run-into-problems-152301">cheetahs in India</a> – are a little closer to where people live, with all of the potential problems that entails in terms of human-wildlife conflict.</p>
<p>In South Korea, a country of similar size and similar human population density to England, conservationists are in the process of restoring the native bear population, Asiatic black bears, or moon bears, to be precise. While slightly smaller than their North American cousins, these are still large wild animals, capable of causing fear and alarm and posing a risk to human life and property. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The head and shoulders of a large black bear with two brown stripes on its chest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Asiatic black bear (<em>Ursus thibetanus</em>), or moon bear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I wanted to find out how South Korea is managing this ambitious project, so I travelled to Jirisan National Park, a mountainous region in the far south of the Korean Peninsula. </p>
<p>By the 1990s, along with occasional sightings in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), Jirisan had become the last foothold of the Asiatic black bear in South Korea. An attempted eradication programme by the colonial Japanese regime of the early 20th century and overhunting following independence in 1945 meant bears had fared badly for some time. At the close of the century, there were thought to be just five wild bears left in the country, and the species was on the brink of <a href="http://kmkjournals.com/upload/PDF/RJT/18/ther18_1_051_055.pdf">extinction in South Korea</a>. </p>
<p>These were not the only bears in the country though. A large population lingered on farms producing bear bile and body parts, which are used in traditional medicine, and bear meat. Since the 1990s, South Korea has cracked down on the bear part trade, but the remaining population of around 380 captive bears still substantially outnumbers those in the wild (<a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/05/371_309394.html?WA">around 70 in 2021</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black bear's head looms behind bars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A captive Asiatic black bear on a disused bear bile farm in Gangwon-do, South Korea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These farm bears might have seemed the ideal animals to rebuild a wild population. But the bears probably belonged to a range of different subspecies and were potential disease risks. Years of being fed by humans also meant that the bears could seek out contact – and cause conflict – with humans. Instead, bears were imported from China, Russia and North Korea. In 2004, the first six cubs were released into Jirisan.</p>
<h2>Why did South Korea’s bear programme succeed?</h2>
<p>No grand claims were made about reshaping the relationship between humans and the natural world, and no changes were promised to centuries-old methods of managing landscapes, ideas which often feature in debates about <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.13487">rewilding</a>. Instead, conservationists in South Korea established a modest initial goal: returning a population of 50 bears to a single protected area. </p>
<p>Soft releases, in which bears are kept in pens to acclimate to their surroundings before being set free, and extensive monitoring of bears post-release, helped increase the likelihood of each released bear surviving. Bears that strayed too far were returned to the national park. </p>
<p>Captive breeding, underpinned by impressive veterinary expertise, has also helped the population grow. One milestone involved the world’s first successful use of <a href="http://koreabizwire.com/artificial-insemination-boosts-genetic-diversity-of-asiatic-black-bears/137622">artificial insemination</a> in this genus of bear, a boon for maintaining genetic diversity in a small population. Bears injured by snares or traffic collisions have also been <a href="https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-021-02834-9">successfully returned to the wild</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An anaesthetised bear lies on a stretcher on top of a metal examination table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Veterinarians prepare to transport a female bear following examination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The initial target of 50 bears was exceeded and the population now stands at <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/05/371_309394.html?WA">over 70</a>. A <a href="http://kmkjournals.com/upload/PDF/RJT/18/ther18_1_051_055.pdf">recent study</a> found that some bears were now dispersing across South Korea, suggesting that Jirisan National Park may be close to reaching the limit of bears it can sustain.</p>
<p>This presents new challenges. Conservationists have, so far, been remarkably successful at reducing conflict between bears and people, and building support for restoring bears to Jirisan National Park with education programmes, presentations for residents and hikers, a centre where visitors can learn about the reintroduction programme and even the use of moon bear mascots for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics.</p>
<p>But the appearance of bears outside of the national park still attracts prime-time media coverage, which can hamper efforts to cultivate tolerance and maintain a reasonable dialogue with the public about the realities of living alongside bears. People feeding bears remains an issue, as does illegal snaring for game species, which can severely injure bears. As South Korea reaches the next stage of its reintroduction programme, is the country prepared to accept bears outside of a protected area?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A rocky mountain vista with streaks of snow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bukhansan National Park, near Seoul. Once home to leopards and tigers, could these mountains see bears again?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It will be fascinating to follow these bears over the coming years as conservationists address these questions. And Asiatic black bears are just the start. South Korea has since established programmes to restore the <a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20121101000970">red fox</a>, which is surprisingly rare in the country, and the <a href="https://scienceon.kisti.re.kr/srch/selectPORSrchArticle.do?cn=JAKO201517052511602&dbt=NART">long-tailed goral</a>, a goat-like mammal whose populations have been depleted by poaching and habitat loss. </p>
<p>These programmes will face challenges, but South Korea has shown considerable expertise in the field of mammal reintroductions. Expertise that other countries could well learn from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Powell receives funding from the London NERC DTP. He is a visiting research student at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine. </span></em></p>Even in small, densely populated countries, reintroducing large wildlife is possible.Joshua Elves-Powell, London NERC DTP PhD Researcher, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602742021-07-12T20:08:31Z2021-07-12T20:08:31ZIf wildlife vigilantes smuggle Tassie devils to the Australian mainland, the animals could live in secret for 20 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410737/original/file-20210712-25-ee3l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4143%2C2762&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tasmanian devil populations have been devastated over the past 25 years due to devil <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040342">facial tumour disease</a>, an infectious cancer. But the Tasmanian government <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/bringing-back-the-devil-20160823-gqz37b.html">does not support</a> relocating uninfected wild devil populations to the Australian mainland.</p>
<p>Wildlife vigilantes have, however, already illegally moved Tasmanian devils off the island — an illegal practice known as “covert rewilding”. They may well might try again.</p>
<p><a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12787">My recent research</a> has examined this possibility. It found a covert devil population could remain undetected on the Australian mainland for years, by which time it may be too large and widely distributed to be eradicated.</p>
<p>In fact, it’s possible such rewilding has already occurred, and the calls of covert devils may already be echoing across the Australian Alps or Victoria’s Highlands.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="devil with tumour" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410739/original/file-20210712-46002-1sn0y45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A facial tumour disease is devastating Tasmanian devil populations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah Peck/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is covert rewilding?</h2>
<p>Rewilding is the movement of a species back to a location it once existed in, either to maintain ecosystem functioning or prevent the extinction of that species. </p>
<p>In most countries, rewilding decisions rest with public servants in regulatory agencies, who are generally <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0475.2010.00505.x">risk-averse</a>. Rewilding proposals are generally denied, for reasons such as the need to protect other vulnerable species or prevent human-wildlife conflicts.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of conservationists operate strictly within the law. But in some cases, guerrilla conservationists take matters into their own hands.</p>
<p>Conclusive evidence of covert rewilding is hard to come by, for obvious reasons. But examples exist.</p>
<p>At Devon in the United Kingdom, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mam.12113">beavers were discovered in 2007</a> in a river catchment, after an official application to reintroduce the species was resisted by government and farmers. <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2017/11/beavers-are-mysteriously-back-britain">Multiple sources believed</a> the reappearance was the result of covert rewilding by so-called “beaver bombers”.</p>
<p>Similarly in the early 2000s, conservationists in Belgium <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260600032_The_unofficial_return_of_the_European_beaver_Castor_fiber_in_Flanders_Belgium">illegally released</a> beavers at two locations, where the animals subsequently formed permanent populations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eurasian beaver" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410916/original/file-20210713-26-1c9snls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Covert rewilders released beavers to a Devon river.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Guerrilla conservationists have also covertly relocated populations of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320705004234">polecats</a> in Scotland and the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444312034.ch4">Eurasian lynx</a> in Switzerland and France.</p>
<p>And in Australia in 1996, unknown people <a href="https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/STDP%20Tasmanian%20Devil%20Translocation%20Maria%20Island%20development%20and%20environmental%20plan.pdf">covertly released</a> Tasmanian devils onto Badger Island in Bass Strait. The devils were brought to the island by ferry and plane, and once there quickly multiplied. Their descendants were later taken back to Tasmania by officials.</p>
<p>Cancer-free devils have been released into wildlife refuges on the mainland under sanctioned programs, but not into the wild. </p>
<p>Tasmanian devils were once found in the wild across mainland Australia. Three devils were found in Victoria between 1912 and 1991, raising the possibility they were taken from Tasmania and deliberately released.</p>
<p>Devils are easy to catch in traps, and can tolerate captivity and transport. The Badger Island population, for example, was trapped from wild populations then taken to the island by ferry and plane. And the Australian mainland contains an abundance of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715300379">suitable devil habitat</a>.</p>
<p>Introducing species to ecosystems — or reintroducing species that once lived there — carries substantial ecological risks. I do not advocate for or against covert rewilding. But the practice is likely to continue, and it’s important to gain a better understanding of it. </p>
<p>In particular, if authorities wish to halt covert rewilding before it gets out of control, it’s important to identify and monitor the most attractive release locations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bones-and-all-see-how-the-diets-of-tasmanian-devils-can-wear-down-their-sharp-teeth-to-blunt-nubbins-162422">Bones and all: see how the diets of Tasmanian devils can wear down their sharp teeth to blunt nubbins</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people release Tasmanian devils" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410738/original/file-20210712-38010-dcc517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cancer-free Tasmanian devils have been released into mainland wildlife refuges, but not the wild.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cristian Prieto/WildArk</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Spreading across the landscape</h2>
<p>A key goal of a covert rewilding is to establish a population that, by the time it is discovered, is too large to eradicate. </p>
<p>My modelling involved the hypothetical release of 40 devils at a wide range of locations across Victoria and New South Wales. I modelled how the covert population began to grow, how long it would take to be detected, and how governments could and would respond. </p>
<p>I calculated the annual probability of detection based on the density of the road network and the presence of towns, which affects the chance of the animals being spotted <a href="https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/Spotlight%20Report%201992.pdf">by motorists</a> or hikers.</p>
<p>According to the model’s forecasts, a well-planned covert rewilding of Tasmanian devils could remain hidden for <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12787">more than a decade</a>. By the time it was noticed, the population would have increased to more than 3,000.</p>
<p>Three remote locations emerged as best suited to covert rewilding: two in Victoria’s Alpine National Park and one in Wollemi National Park in New South Wales. These areas had the best combination of suitable habitat, rapid spread rates and low detectability.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410532/original/file-20210709-17-jclwb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yellow represents ideal covert rewilding sites for Tasmanian devils on the Australian mainland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, following a release in Alpine National Park, the model predicted discovery by humans after 26 years, by which time the devil population would number 2,200 individuals, spread across 2,800 square kilometres. An earlier detection could easily occur, but there was a 95% chance the population would remain undetected for at least six years — reaching 100 individuals spread across 700 square kilometres.</p>
<p>Once two decades pass before discovery, removal would be expensive and challenging (both logistically and politically).</p>
<p>The lengthy detection lags identified in the research have been borne out by real-world precedents involving covert rewilding. That means if devils have been illegally reintroduced to the Australian mainland in the past two decades, we probably wouldn’t even know it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two tassie devils playing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410740/original/file-20210712-71001-4djqrm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tasmanian devils may be roaming the mainland undetected.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Playing devil’s advocate</h2>
<p>Additional regulation and enforcement might not dissuade guerrilla conservationists. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246477835_Wildlife_across_our_borders_A_review_of_the_illegal_trade_in_Australia">Very few</a> cases involving the illegal movement of wildlife in Australia lead to convictions. And some guerrilla conservationists are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281276691_Foxes_in_Tasmania">not deterred</a> by fines.</p>
<p>From a legal perspective, covert rewilding is hard to stop because Australia’s regulatory framework is full of gaps. For example, the federal government considers species regulation to be a problem for the states, while the states consider the regulation of cross-border species relocations to be a federal problem. Rewilding, and particularly covert rewilding, falls between the cracks.</p>
<p>Covert rewildings typically <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/bringing-back-the-devil-20160823-gqz37b.html">come after</a> official permission is denied. Often, it’s done without sufficient knowledge of the environment, species interactions and local interests.</p>
<p>It’s worth considering, then, if a more permissive attitude to official rewilding is needed. To quote a British beaver <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2017/11/beavers-are-mysteriously-back-britain">conservationist</a>: “If we don’t do an official reintroduction, it’ll happen anyway”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-developed-tools-to-study-cancer-in-tasmanian-devils-they-could-help-fight-disease-in-humans-137710">We developed tools to study cancer in Tasmanian devils. They could help fight disease in humans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Bode received funding from the NESP Threatened Species Hub, and from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>In the past, wildlife vigilantes have illegally moved Tasmanian devils off the island — an illegal practice known as “covert rewilding”. They may well might try again.Michael Bode, Professor of Mathematics, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1574412021-05-24T15:13:22Z2021-05-24T15:13:22ZRewilding: four tips to let nature thrive<p>What would rewilding mean for a country like the UK? Bringing back wolves and bears? Returning the land to how it looked in prehistoric times? How will people fit into this wild and unimaginably different place? Questions like these abound whenever rewilding is in the news. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/rewilding-four-tips-to-let-nature-thrive-157441&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In essence, rewilding involves giving more space and time to nature. Instead of managing ecosystems to preserve particular species, rewilding is intended to reverse environmental decline by letting nature become more self-willed. That means allowing wildlife the freedom to flourish and habitats to regenerate naturally.</p>
<p>But without clear principles to guide these processes, rewilding has become a trendy buzzword that is often used indiscriminately. This has invited wildly different interpretations, sparked debates and caused controversy that has discouraged governments from developing it into policy. </p>
<p>This could be about to change though. </p>
<p>We’ve published <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.13730">a set of guiding principles</a> which specify what rewilding should involve and how it should be done. This is the result of one of the most comprehensive international studies on rewilding to date, reviewing best practices and the latest science, instigated by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/commissions/commission-ecosystem-management/our-work/cems-thematic-groups/rewilding">International Union for the Conservation of Nature</a> and involving hundreds of experts. Without further ado, here are the dos and don'ts of rewilding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three wild horses in a clearing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C317%2C3264%2C2125&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Konik wild horses recreate the natural grazing patterns of extinct species at the Cambrian Wildwood in West Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Coetir Anian/Cambrian Wildwood</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Don’t (always) start with wolves</h2>
<p>The objective of rewilding is boosting the health of an ecosystem by increasing the number of species and how much they can all interact. A fully restored ecosystem would have top predators, but there are a lot of missing parts – the plants, prey animals, fungi – that should be put back first to ensure that larger species have an appropriate food source and habitat to support them. </p>
<p>It might not be appropriate for lots of other reasons to reintroduce wolves to a particular place at the moment, but in the meantime, bringing back <a href="https://www.natureconservation.wales/project/beaver-reintroduction-wales/">beavers</a>, <a href="https://www.arc-trust.org/saving-sand-lizard">lizards</a> and <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/the-science-behind-the-chequered-skipper-re-introduction">butterflies</a> is brilliant too.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view of someone holding a dormouse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dormice need a helping hand too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Back on our Map/University of Cumbria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The UK government has the chance to support the reintroduction of species by including funding for it in its new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-land-management-schemes-overview">environmental land management schemes</a>. As opposed to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which paid farmers a subsidy based on the size of the land they owned, the new schemes would offer payments to farmers and land managers in return for supporting nature recovery across the landscape. </p>
<p>Within these schemes, funding could be allocated for the <a href="https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/support-rewilding/our-campaigns-and-issues/natural-regeneration">natural regeneration</a> of habitats, instead of interventions like tree planting. This would mean moving away from setting fixed targets and managing habitats to suit one species, which might feel risky, but it would let scientists see how natural processes operate when they are given room, and what <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/the-results">unexpected things arrive</a>. This can change our understanding of how ecosystems work and where species can thrive if landscapes become healthier. </p>
<h2>Do reconnect people with nature</h2>
<p>Rewilding involves reducing harmful human pressures and promoting natural processes in ecosystems. This shouldn’t mean excluding people though. Rewilding should actually help people develop a more positive relationship with the natural world that involves compassion for all species and a spirit of learning from nature rather than seeking to dominate it.</p>
<p>This can be done through <a href="https://www.cambrianwildwood.org/people/">school trips</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2021/03/uk-revolutionary-rewilding-projects">holidays in rewilding sites</a> and voluntary work opportunities like <a href="https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/rewilding/">tree planting</a>, wetland restoration and wildlife surveys. A greater emphasis on the natural world in primary and secondary education could also help guarantee the long-term success of rewilding efforts by nurturing enthusiasm from an early age.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-environmental-doom-and-gloom-young-people-draw-alternative-visions-of-natures-future-102004">Forget environmental doom and gloom – young people draw alternative visions of nature's future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Don’t alienate rural communities</h2>
<p>The prospect of rewilding has made some people in the countryside anxious. Farmers in particular worry that their livestock, land and way of life are under threat, either from reintroduced predators or new directives to manage the land differently.</p>
<p>Including local people at every stage of a rewilding project is very important. To ensure this, staff working on rewilding projects need to be based locally so they are available for a chat or to discuss concerns. They shouldn’t just rely on formal consultation – where communities fill in surveys or participate in organised meetings.</p>
<p>Ideally, rewilding projects should be driven by local people who could organise and set the agenda for how their land is managed. They should also directly benefit from <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/nature-based-economies/">associated businesses</a>, like wildlife tours. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people standing in a valley bottom surrounded by trees and hills." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rewilding projects shouldn’t impose ideas from above that were devised elsewhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Carver</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Do think about the future</h2>
<p>Some people worry that rewilding harks back to a time before modern man or even earlier – to when woolly mammoths stalked the Earth. Looking back can allow us to see what has been lost and what could be revived, but rewilding isn’t about rewinding the clock. It’s about looking to the future and the challenges nature will face.</p>
<p>By enabling species to move through reconnected habitats and traverse entire landscapes, wildlife populations can be rebuilt. This would ensure the healthy functioning of an ecosystem isn’t dependent on a few isolated creatures, and it’s a practical way to help nature adapt to threats like climate change and new diseases, as species will have more freedom to move if pressures in one place escalate. </p>
<p>The UK government has <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936567/10_POINT_PLAN_BOOKLET.pdf">committed</a> to protect 30% of UK land by 2030 by creating new national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But landowners need commitments from the government and funders so they know that restoring woodland and wetlands won’t cost them money down the line. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-bill-2020/10-march-2020-nature-and-conservation-covenants-parts-6-and-7">Conservation covenants</a> – introduced in the 2020 Environment Bill – could provide a mechanism for landowners to stipulate how their estate is managed in perpetuity. So land can become, and remain, wild hundreds of years into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Wynne-Jones is a trustee of the Cambrian Wildwood – an advisory and unpaid position.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Convery is a trustee of the not-for-profit Lifescapes Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Carver receives funding from ESRC and NERC.</span></em></p>By studying where rewilding has worked well around the world, we’ve worked out the dos and don'ts.Sophie Wynne-Jones, Lecturer in Human Geography, Bangor UniversityIan Convery, Professor of Environment & Society, University of CumbriaSteve Carver, Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1542182021-02-19T17:58:25Z2021-02-19T17:58:25ZHow hybrids could help save endangered species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382541/original/file-20210204-18-e7yle5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=721%2C589%2C3342%2C2336&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A hybrid of the Turkmen and Iranian wild ass, introduced to Israel in 1968.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lilith Zecherle</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What do you get when you cross two distinct lineages of an endangered species? For scientists hoping to revive an extinct population in Israel, the answer was a lucky accident – one that could upend longstanding ideas about how best to preserve biodiversity.</p>
<p>The Asiatic wild ass is a relative of the donkey that, as the name suggests, was never domesticated. This truly wild animal lives in the steppes and deserts of western and central Asia, from the Mediterranean to Mongolia. Because they vary slightly in size and colour (ranging from a pale sand colour to a dark ochre), Asiatic wild asses have been classified into five distinct subspecies: Mongolian, Indian, Iranian, Turkmen, and Syrian. The latter once roamed the Middle East, but overhunting drove it to extinction in the 1920s. </p>
<p>Hoping to return this species to the Negev desert, Israel started a reintroduction programme in 1968. The idea was not to resurrect the extinct Syrian wild ass, but to introduce an equivalent that was as similar as possible, which would fill the ecological role of the departed subspecies. And so, Israel imported 11 Asiatic wild asses from zoos in Iran and Europe.</p>
<p>Perhaps confusion regarding the species’ taxonomy was to blame, but the 11 imported asses weren’t all alike. In fact, they belonged to two different subspecies from Iran and Turkmenistan. And accidentally, a mixed breeding population was established in the HaiBar Yotvata reserve in Israel that created an entirely new hybrid ass.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black-and-white photograph of a donkey-like animal galloping in an enclosure." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385278/original/file-20210219-19-foa71v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The now-extinct Syrian wild ass in a Vienna zoo, 1915.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_wild_ass#/media/File:Syrian_wild_ass.jpg">Conrad Keller/Wikipedia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Intentionally crossing two different subspecies risks creating offspring which are less healthy or viable. But, remarkably, this accident seems to have paid off. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eva.13191">In new research</a>, we studied the genetics of the hybrid population and showed that mixing the subspecies might have actually helped make the reintroduction a success. </p>
<h2>What’s wrong with hybrids?</h2>
<p>Separate species and subspecies are genetically distinct. If they’re too different, their hybrid offspring are likely to be much less healthy than the parents. Genetic incompatibilities between horses and donkeys mean that their hybrids – mules and hinnies – <a href="https://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/answer-man/article135296594.html">are infertile</a>. Subspecies are more genetically similar than species and less likely to experience this problem, but there are other issues. </p>
<p>Different subspecies of the same species might have unique genetic adaptations that they’ve evolved in order to thrive within their particular environments. By crossing them, the next generation will carry fewer of these adaptations and might struggle as a result. Imagine crossing a tiger from Siberia with one from Sumatra – the genetic make-up of the offspring may make them less comfortable than their parents in either snowy northern climes or tropical rainforests.</p>
<p>But mixing different populations can also help counteract the problems of small population sizes. Many endangered species persist in small and isolated populations and as a result, lose their genetic diversity through inbreeding and a random process called <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/natural-selection/population-genetics/a/genetic-drift-founder-bottleneck#:%7E:text=Genetic%20drift%20is%20a%20mechanism,are%20strongest%20in%20small%20populations.">genetic drift</a>. This spells danger for the whole species, as low genetic diversity means a lower potential for coping with sudden change, like a hotter climate or a new disease. </p>
<p>Think of it like playing scrabble, but your tiles contain just two letters. Your options are severely limited. A greater diversity of letters would give you much more flexibility to respond. Mixing subspecies seems to have given the reintroduced Israeli wild asses a more diverse genome.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A horse-donkey hybrid stands in a field in winter." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385279/original/file-20210219-23-16bwati.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An old hinny – the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse. Most hinnies are sterile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinny#/media/File:Old_hinny_in_Oklahoma.jpg">Ragesoss/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Return to the Negev</h2>
<p>In Israel, the population of Asiatic wild asses grew rapidly from 11 founders in a mixed breeding group in 1968 to around 300 wild animals today. A fast-growing population is a sign of health. But starting with a small number of founder animals risks creating a reintroduced population with very low genetic diversity. Over time, this could cause it to shrink or even collapse.</p>
<p>We performed <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eva.13191">a DNA analysis</a> to learn more about the genetic makeup of this population and its chances of persisting in the long-term. We found that all tested individuals of wild ass roaming the Israeli desert today are genetic hybrids and inherited half of their genes from each of the two subspecies. </p>
<p>This is more surprising than it sounds. If genetic incompatibilities between two subspecies usually make hybrids less healthy or fertile, we’d expect them to produce fewer foals than wild asses of pure subspecies ancestry. So, after several generations, we’d still expect to see some purebred asses, as they’re presumably better suited to breeding healthy young than the hydrids. Yet we found no purebreds, suggesting there were no genetic barriers to interbreeding. </p>
<p>More importantly, the hybrid population became more genetically diverse over time. This may explain the population’s rapid growth, and indicate that Israel’s wild ass population is well-prepared for future challenges like disease and climate change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A herd of wild asses in the desert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385280/original/file-20210219-15-1bk9mzx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rather than leading to a genetic dead end, mixing two subspecies created a thriving hybrid population.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lilith Zecherle</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Diversity versus purity</h2>
<p>The reintroduction in Israel is a rare success in the conservation of Asiatic wild asses. Other re-introductions have used only one subspecies and most of them have failed. </p>
<p>When 11 Turkmen wild asses were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10592-018-1086-3">reintroduced to a reserve in Turkmenistan</a>, the resulting population lost much of its genetic diversity over four generations. To date, only <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eva.13191">five out of 18 attempts</a> to reintroduce wild asses have succeeded, including the one in Israel.</p>
<p>Despite the potential benefits, many conservationists <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.2595">oppose mixing different subspecies</a> as it means sacrificing genetic purity, which some consider a precious component of a population’s overall value. But our work suggests that focusing on genetic purity might not be the best strategy for saving an endangered species from extinction. Carefully assessing the potential risks is important, but hybrids can also form resilient populations with realistic chances of long-term survival.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lilith Zecherle receives funding from Liverpool John Moores University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hazel Nichols receives funding from NERC Bioinformatics Facility.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By only focusing on preserving the genetic purity of a species, conservationists risk the extinction of isolated populations.Lilith Zecherle, PhD Candidate in Conservation Biology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityHazel Nichols, Senior Lecturer in Biosciences, Swansea UniversityRichard Brown, Professor of Animal Evolution, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1373202020-05-15T10:57:37Z2020-05-15T10:57:37ZStork chicks hatch in UK for first time in 600 years – why that’s great news for British wildlife<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330981/original/file-20200428-110748-1boj503.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=373%2C0%2C1895%2C1232&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keeping the nest warm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexander Lees</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a spring marked by bad news, events unfolding in the crown of an old oak tree could offer a dose of optimism. Three pairs of white storks settled down to breed on the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, southern England, in March 2020. On May 15, <a href="https://twitter.com/ProjectStork/status/1261220266924965888">it was announced</a> that the first chicks had hatched – the first to be born in Britain since a pair nested on the roof of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1416.</p>
<p>This was no chance event – we owe this precious conservation breakthrough to the efforts of all those involved in the <a href="https://www.whitestorkproject.org/">White Stork Project</a>, who have released over 100 storks at three sites in southeast England. </p>
<p>Wildlife, such as the storks and the <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/white-tailed-eagles-25metre-wingspan-21837082">white-tailed eagles</a> reintroduced to the Isle of Wight in 2019, has provided a lockdown distraction. Both species have treated <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-discover-the-wildlife-wonders-of-your-own-garden-134197">garden birdwatchers</a> to spectacular sights as they’ve toured southern England, and in the case of the eagles even <a href="http://www.roydennis.org/category/sea-eagle/isle-of-wight-sea-eagles/">further afield</a>.</p>
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<p>Stork bones have been found in the limestone caves of the Peak District dating from the late glacial period, between 43,000 and 10,000 years ago, and in human settlements from the Isle of Scilly to the Shetlands in the Bronze Age, as far back as 2,500 years ago. But their sparse remains suggest that they were probably always rare in the UK. </p>
<p>Despite this, the history of Britons <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/595ca91bebbd1a1d0aaab285/t/5cd2ea7b08522957d7fe4dd9/1557326478324/Final+White+Stork+Reintroduction+Feasibility+Report+December+2017.pdf">living alongside storks</a> is preserved in place names like <a href="https://www.storrington.org.uk/">Storrington</a>, close to the Knepp estate, which in Saxon times was called “Estorchestone” – village of the storks. But storks, along with other large wetland birds like cranes and spoonbills, were erased from Britain after centuries of hunting and the draining of their wetland habitats.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-bison-moose-and-caribou-stepped-in-to-do-the-cleaning-work-of-extinct-mammoths-132627">How bison, moose and caribou stepped in to do the cleaning work of extinct mammoths</a>
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<p>Storks have held a significant role in different cultures throughout recorded history. Ancient Egyptians associated storks with the soul, while Greek mythology cast them as baby-stealers. European Christians have imagined storks as everything from carers to adulterers. Their penchant for eating snakes was seen as a particularly holy trait, in protecting people from serpentine evils. </p>
<p>In more recent history, storks provided a eureka moment for scientists studying bird migration. A few 19th-century storks returning to Germany from their African winter grounds arrived with hunters’ arrows stuck in their bodies. These “arrow storks”, or <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/bird-solved-migration-mystery-now-illegally-killed-its-journey">Pfeilstörche</a>, as the Germans named them, offered ornithologists proof of their intercontinental wanderings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330996/original/file-20200428-110779-1bsplgn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A migrant white stork foraging alongside Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexander Lees</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Standing under the stork umbrella</h2>
<p>White storks now commonly nest at the top of tall trees across Europe. Their numbers have been boosted by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.845">multiple reintroduction schemes</a> in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden. Storks are touted as potent symbols of ecosystem health, and with European governments spending millions on <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/life/publications/lifepublications/lifefocus/documents/wetlands.pdf">restoring wetlands</a>, they’re joining cranes and spoonbills as another long lost wetland bird which has recolonised old haunts in recent decades without any direct help from humans. </p>
<p>But the success of these wetland species stands in stark contrast to the declines of many other birds <a href="https://nbn.org.uk/stateofnature2019/reports/">in other habitats</a>. It’s easier to care for species that live in discrete patches of habitat like wetlands, than it is to save the wildlife of the wider countryside. Nevertheless, like the beaver, white-tailed eagle and pine marten, white storks are thought to make excellent “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-conserving-natures-umbrella-species-could-benefit-whole-habitats-119122">umbrella species</a>” – species whose habitat needs match up with lots of other wildlife, so protecting storks can help countless other species. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330987/original/file-20200428-110734-1kleu0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">White storks are a familiar sight in lightly farmed rural landscapes in some parts of Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexander Lees</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But storks are adaptable creatures too. News that Spanish storks have given up migrating to “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/storks-give-up-migrating-to-binge-on-junk-food-in-landfill-sites-a6932916.html">binge on junk food</a> in landfill sites” suggests that they may not always be the best indicators of ecosystem health.</p>
<p>The white is not western Europe’s only stork either. The more furtive black stork has been expanding westwards in recent decades. This is a success that’s also partially the result of a reintroduction programme. The return of beavers to the forested waterways of western Europe has been a boon for black storks. Beavers are ecosystem engineers, meaning they create large wet woodland habitats full of the amphibians that storks like to eat. </p>
<p>Migrant black storks have even visited the Knepp Estate, where the new white chicks hatched. This wild estate is expecting to receive <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/new-blog/2020/2/3/bringing-beavers-back-to-sussex">beavers</a> soon, meaning black storks might naturally join their white cousins as breeders one day.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331992/original/file-20200501-42913-1oy60g2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black storks are known to move into wetland areas when beavers return.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-stork-ciconia-nigra-120767752">CezaryKorkosz/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In contrast to some reintroduced species which shy away from people, white storks have a long association with human settlements, offering an opportunity to welcome the wild right into the heart of British towns and villages. This new generation of native British storks could be a conduit for greater public engagement with nature, bringing <a href="https://natureconservation.pensoft.net/article/12055/element/4/481/">wider awareness of the issues</a> facing a broad range of British wildlife. After all, it’s hard to ignore a stork nest on your chimney pot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Storks – those harbingers of new life – are breeding in Britain again.Alexander C. Lees, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityOliver Metcalf, PhD Candidate in Ornithology, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1321162020-02-20T13:15:54Z2020-02-20T13:15:54ZBeavers are set to recolonise the UK – here’s how people and the environment could benefit<p>For an animal that looks like a soggy fur ball with the feet of a duck in need of a pedicure and a tail cut from an old tyre, the beaver’s public image is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/01/beavers-uk-estate-owners-reintroduction-conservation-flooding">doing rather well lately</a>.</p>
<p>That’s despite centuries of hunting that caused the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) to disappear from the UK during the 1500s. Now they’re back. In 2015, two beaver families were released on the River Otter in Devon. Researchers followed this reintroduced population and tracked their distribution and health. They also monitored how the amphibious rodents affected river flow and other wildlife, along with any disruption on adjacent land. By 2019, there were at least seven breeding pairs that had spread throughout the river catchment, well beyond the release sites.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/what-we-do/our-projects/river-otter-beaver-trial">The results of the five-year trial are striking</a>. The beavers built dams, creating wetland and ponds that slowed down peak river flows that might have caused flooding. Their engineering holds back water in the catchment area, stopping it from running off the land quickly and overloading the river, creating a bottle neck in towns downstream. </p>
<p>This glowing report on the flood prevention skills of beavers couldn’t be better timed. Two winter storms, Ciara and Denis, have recently brought flooding to thousands of homes in the UK. In November 2019, the National Trust, a charity more associated with stately homes, released beavers on Exmoor, also in Devon, with much of the publicity at the time touting the likely benefits they’ll bring to flood-prone homes nearby.</p>
<p>Wildlife has benefited from the beavers too. The small pools created by the dams had 37% more fish than comparable stretches of the river. That’s helped local birds that eat fish, while rare water voles have been able to find refuge from invasive mink in newly wetted channels. Young trout prefer the faster water of washed out dams and have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/17/beavers-cut-flooding-and-pollution-and-boost-wildlife-populations">spotted leaping over intact dams</a> during high river flows.</p>
<p>The River Otter backs up data from shorter term studies set over smaller areas that show beaver dams <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/fwb.12721">benefit the diversity of freshwater invertebrates</a>, reduce nutrient levels in outflow, filter pollution and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/esp.4398">allow sediment to settle out and bury carbon</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beavers build dams – like this one in North America – which help create wetlands, slowing flood water, reducing drought and creating micro-habitats like shallow pools which benefit biodiversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/north-american-beaver-works-on-dam-604904441">Chase Dekker/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reconciling ranchers and rewilders</h2>
<p>Just as importantly, the report doesn’t shy away from raising the challenges of returning a large mammal to a landscape heavily altered by humans. Beavers burrowed and blocked some culverts, while some of the trees they felled blocked paths. They ate some maize crop (£1.33 worth, gross) and gnawed an orchard tree. </p>
<p>The greatest potential drawback was flooding of productive farmland. There’s a risk that these outcomes cause people to rapidly degenerate into two mutually hostile camps – those with an anti-beaver outlook that portray rewilders as naïve townies, trying to force their eco-warrior views on country folk versus a pro-beaver lobby that sees opponents as habitat-wrecking landowners who don’t care about the environment and are only interested in animals they can shoot. Thankfully, there is none of this in the River Otter report. Instead, there’s recognition of concern and examples of rapid action that can deal with problems.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/give-beavers-permanent-residence-wed-be-dam-stupid-not-to-55256">Give beavers permanent residence – we'd be dam stupid not to</a>
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<p>The recent report feels a far cry from the one produced after the first official beaver reintroduction trial, which ran in Knapdale, Scotland from 2009-2014. From start to finish the Knapdale project was circumscribed with cautious language, and the beavers were described as fenced in and heavily monitored. These legally permitted beavers were allowed but only under strict guard. Despite this, illegal beavers started appearing elsewhere, most conspicuously on the River Tay, also in Scotland, perhaps since 2011, according to the “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/freebeavers/">Save the Free Beavers of the Tay</a>” Facebook group.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After a five-year study gave the River Otter beavers and their ecosystem benefits a glowing review, signs like these are likely to pop up elsewhere in Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/otterton-budleigh-salterton-devon-uk-15jun2018-1119058253">Paul J Martin/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Their presence caused the usual mix of delight and anger, and in 2010 Scottish Natural Heritage planned to remove them. But the death of a Scottish beaver called Erica that had been rounded up was a public relations mess. Once an animal has a name and can endear human observers, you better be sure it doesn’t die in your custody. Bowing to public pressure, <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/erica-beaver-dies-scottish-wild-2738538">the Scottish government granted beavers full legal protection in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>Beavers look to be <a href="https://beaversinengland.com/">on the way back, all over the UK</a>. Quite how they will get around isn’t entirely clear yet, but there seems to be widespread <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/science/articles-reports/2020/01/28/third-brits-would-reintroduce-wolves-and-lynxes-uk">public</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/01/beavers-uk-estate-owners-reintroduction-conservation-flooding">political</a> support, and it may be that they will spread by themselves.</p>
<p>That will surely be better than the 1948 reintroduction of beavers in Idaho, in the US. Here, the hapless rodents were boxed up and the crates <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/why-76-beavers-were-forced-to-skydive-into-the-idaho-wilderness-in-1948/">dropped by parachute from low flying aeroplanes</a>. </p>
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<p>The plan worked, apart from the one beaver that managed to climb onto the top of its airborne box only to jump off at the last minute. <a href="https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/lion-witch-wardrobe/mr-mrs-beaver">As the Chronicles of Narnia showed</a>, tea and cakes are more a beaver’s thing than extreme sports.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Jeffries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coming to a river catchment near you: a rodent crack team ready to reduce flooding and boost biodiversity.Mike Jeffries, Associate Professor, Ecology, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/785332017-06-14T20:08:00Z2017-06-14T20:08:00ZZoos aren’t Victorian-era throwbacks: they’re important in saving species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173739/original/file-20170614-21315-17v6lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A meerkat at the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra. The Zoo has recently announced an expansion that will double its size.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Stefan Postles</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra recently announced a new expansion that will <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-24/canberra-zoo-doubles-in-size-shows-off-baby-giraffe/8555590">double its size</a>, with open range space for large animals like white rhinos and cheetahs. </p>
<p>As well as improving visitors’ experience, the expansion is touted as a way to improve the zoo’s breeding program for threatened animals. However, zoos have received plenty of criticism over their capacity to <a href="https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/do-zoos-and-aquariums-promote-attitude-change-in-visitors-a-criti">educate</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265270905_Zoos_Failing_animals_conservation_and_education">conserve</a>, or even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/09/marius-giraffe-killed-copenhagen-zoo-protests">keep animals alive</a>.</p>
<p>But while zoos began as 19th-century menageries, they’ve come a long way since then. They’re responsible for saving <a href="https://taronga.org.au/news/2017-05-22/10-endangered-species-saved-extinction-zoos">10 iconic species worldwide</a>. Without captive breeding and reintroduction efforts, there might be no <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697636/0">Californian Condor</a> or <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41763/0">Przewalski’s Horse</a> – the only truly wild horse – left in the wild. </p>
<p>Australian zoos form part of a vital global network that keeps our most vulnerable species alive.</p>
<h2>What is the role of zoos for conservation?</h2>
<p>Although Canberra Zoo is relatively new compared with others in Australia – Melbourne zoo, for example, was opened in 1862 – it adds to a collection of conservation-orientated establishments.</p>
<p>In Australia, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, Adelaide Zoo and Perth Zoo are all members of the <a href="http://www.waza.org/en/site/about-waza">World Association of Zoos and Aquariums</a> (WAZA). WAZA is an international organisation <a href="http://www.waza.org/en/site/conservation/conservation-strategies">that aims to guide and support zoos in their conservation missions</a>, including captive breeding, reintroductions into the wild, habitat restoration, and genetic management.</p>
<p>From the perspective of nature conservation, zoos have two major roles: educating the public about the plight of our fauna, and contributing to species recovery in the wild. </p>
<p>Conservation education is deeply embedded in the values of many zoos, especially in <a href="http://www.zooaquarium.org.au/index.php/conservation/in-situ-campaigns/">Australia</a>. The evidence for the link between zoo education and conservation outcomes is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12263/full">mixed</a>, however zoos are, above anybody else, aimed at children. Evidence shows that after guided experiences in zoos children <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/scied/2013/03/11/zoo-education/">know more about nature</a> and are more likely to have a positive attitude towards it. Importantly, this attitude is <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015016/meta">transferable to their parents</a>. </p>
<p>Zoos contribute unique knowledge and research to support field conservation programs, and thus species recovery. In Australia, zoos are directly involved in <a href="http://www.zooaquarium.org.au/index.php/tracking-estuarine-crocodiles-in-north-queensland/">monitoring of free-ranging native fauna</a> and <a href="http://dins.arwh.org/">investigations into emerging diseases</a>. Without zoos many fundamental questions about a species’ biology could not be answered, and we would lack essential knowledge on animal handling, husbandry and care.</p>
<p>Through captive breeding, zoos can secure healthy animals that can be introduced to old or new habitats, or bolster existing wild populations. For example, a conservation manager at Taronga Zoo told me they’ve released more than 50,000 animals that were either bred on-site or rehabilitated in their wildlife hospitals (another important function of zoos). </p>
<h2>Criticisms of captive breeding programs</h2>
<p>The critics of captive breeding as a conservation strategy raise several concerns. Captive bred population can <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2005.00004.x/full">lose essential behavioural and cultural adaptations, as well as genetic diversity</a>. Large predators – cats, bears and wolves – are more likely to be affected. </p>
<p>Some species, such as frogs, do well in captivity, breed fast, and are able to be released into nature with limited or no training. For others, there is usually a concerted effort to <a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/news/stranger-danger-training-for-helmeted-honeyeaters">maintain wild behaviour</a>. </p>
<p>There’s a higher chance of disease wiping out zoo populations due to animal proximity. In 2004 the largest tiger zoo in Thailand experienced an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu after <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3320363/">16 tigers were fed contaminated raw chicken</a>; ultimately 147 tigers died or were put down. </p>
<p>However, despite these risks, research shows that <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/330/6010/1503.full">reintroduction campaigns</a> improve the prospects of endangered species, and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10871200390180163">zoos can play a crucial role in conservation</a>. Zoos are continually improving their management of the genetics, behaviour and epidemiology of captive populations. </p>
<p>They are the last resort for species on the brink of extinction, such as the <a href="http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/?base=959">Orange-bellied Parrot</a> or the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15568/0">Scimitar-horned Oryx</a>, and for those <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6023/1390.full">facing a threat that we cannot stop yet</a>, such as amphibians threatened by the deadly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3323396/">Chytrid fungus</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171975/original/file-20170602-8018-k2eiwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orange-bellied parrots are ranked among the most endangered species on the planet – their survival depends on zoos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://one.aap.com.au/#/search/orange%20bellied%20parrot?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:100,%22pageNumber%22:1%7D">Chris Tzaros/AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Zoos need clear priorities</h2>
<p>A cost-benefit approach can help zoos prioritise their actions. Taronga, for example, uses a prioritisation system to decide which projects to take on, with and without captive breeding. Their aim is to a foresee threats to wildlife and ecosystems and implement strategies that ensure sustainability. </p>
<p>Developing prioritisation systems relies on clearly defined objectives. Is there value in keeping a species in captivity indefinitely, perhaps focusing only on education? Is contributing to a wild population the end goal, requiring both education and active conservation?</p>
<p>Once this is defined, zoos can assess the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215000809">benefit and costs</a> of different actions, by asking sometimes difficult questions. Is a particular species declining in the wild? Can we secure a genetically diverse sample before it is too late? Will capturing animals impact the viability of the wild population? How likely is successful reintroduction? Can we provide enough space and stimulation for the animals, and how expensive are they to keep?</p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12613/full">Decision science</a> can help zoos navigate these many factors to identify the best species to target for active captive conservation. In Australia, some of the rapidly declining northern mammals, which currently do not have viable zoo populations, could be a good place to start.</p>
<p>Partnerships with governmental agencies, universities and other groups are essential to all of these activities. Zoos in Australia are experts at engaging with these groups to help answer and address wildlife issues.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Alienor Chauvenet would like to acknowledge the contribution of Hugh Possingham to this article, and thank Nick Boyle and Justine O’Brien from Taronga Conservation Society Australia for the information they provided.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alienor Chauvenet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Zoos’ role in conservation is divisive, but in Australia they could be critical in securing and even recovering threatened species.Alienor Chauvenet, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537692016-02-02T04:28:51Z2016-02-02T04:28:51ZHow to reverse the decline of southern ground hornbills<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109677/original/image-20160129-3894-925ufe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The southern ground hornbill is endangered in South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Kemp</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Southern ground hornbills are vulnerable across the world, but their conservation status in South Africa has been raised to <a href="http://www.birdlife.org.za/publications/red-data-book-of-birds">endangered</a>. In the past 100 years they have experienced a two-thirds reduction in their national area of occupancy as well as their population size due to their high site fidelity. </p>
<p>Since 2000, they have been the focus of a number of studies by students at the <a href="http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/">FitzPatrick Institute</a> at the University of Cape Town – investigating their habitat use, reproductive success as well as natal and breeding dispersal. </p>
<p>The main study area is the Associated Private Nature Reserves. It covers some 180,000 hectares adjacent to the central Kruger National Park. It also supports about 30 ground hornbill groups. They are co-operative breeders, each group consisting of the dominant pair – alpha female and alpha male – assisted by adult and immature helpers. The project has reproductive histories spanning a decade for more than 20 of them.</p>
<p>The research has been able to show that positive influences on <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12042/abstract">breeding success</a> include large group size, the availability of artificial nests, and the amount of open habitat within 3km of the nest site. </p>
<p>There is a fair amount of information on the density of the ground hornbill groups in specific areas. The highest density recorded in southern Africa is one group per 40km² at Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. In most places, however, densities are much lower at a group per 100-250km².</p>
<p>But there were important aspects of the species’ biology – about which we knew very little. This included how big their living area was, whether it overlapped other areas, and how the seasons affected it.</p>
<h2>Satellites come to the rescue</h2>
<p>Trying to answer these questions by following the birds on the ground would take forever and yield less-than-ideal results. We discovered this fairly early in the project while trying to track the birds using radio transmitters. So, the best way forward was to invest in satellite tracking technology. </p>
<p>The first satellite transmitter was deployed on a bird in the study area in February 2010. We have since had up to five devices transmitting simultaneously. Each device sends a positional signal once an hour starting before sunrise, while the birds are still on their night-time roosts, until after they return to a roost that evening. The study now has more than 25,000 positional fixes, accurate to within a few metres.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109682/original/image-20160129-3905-gure2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Southern ground hornbills with coloured leg rings for individual identification.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Quentin Hagens</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our earlier results suggested that the areas used by different groups across the entire year ranged from 55km² up to 103km². In the summer breeding season, however, home ranges contracted dramatically. Three of the four groups bred successfully and, during the breeding season, these groups used only 24%-36% of the areas they used in winter. The fourth group attempted to breed but failed at the chick stage, and ended up using 70% of their winter range during the summer.</p>
<p>In summer, there was no overlap between home ranges. Groups never even got close to one another. In winter, however, when groups ranged over much larger areas, there was a small amount of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tost20">home-range overlap</a>.</p>
<h2>Where hornbills like to hang out</h2>
<p>One habitat type that was consistently favoured was open ground. Although open habitats are fairly rare, this may explain why those groups that do have relatively large amounts of open ground close to their nests are the most successful breeders.</p>
<p>It also suggests that bush clearance should be used as a management tool to provide optimal sites elsewhere for the placement of artificial nests or for the reintroduction of ground hornbills.</p>
<p>Optimal habitat configurations for ground hornbills include a mosaic of habitat types, including open areas for foraging and dense trees for shade.</p>
<p>With regards to roost site selection, the information we gathered indicated that there was little evidence of strong preferences for specific sites.</p>
<p>But during the breeding season habitats with large trees along rivers were preferred, whereas areas where bush had been cleared, as well as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combretum">Bushwillow and Mopane</a> dominated habitats were preferred during the dry non-breeding season.</p>
<p>Adequate large trees not only for nesting, but also for roosting, particularly in riparian habitats, may therefore be an important and potentially limiting factor for the successful reproduction of southern ground hornbills.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Reintroductions depend on the availability of birds for release. Fortunately ground hornbills lay two eggs but invariably rear only a single chick. The second hatched chicks are largely ignored by the incubating female and succumb to dehydration after a few days. This means that they are available for harvest and captive rearing. This in turn allows reintroduction with no impact on the source population.</p>
<p>Since 2010 we have harvested 17 second-hatched chicks which have been reared for the captive breeding and <a href="http://www.ground-hornbill.org.za/">reintroduction programs</a>. Reintroduction initiatives are already underway at three sites in the Limpopo Province and release techniques for this socially complex species are being refined. </p>
<p>Reintroduction of threatened wild populations is a common conservation strategy. Our research to improve our understanding of the species’ life history, behavioural ecology and reproductive strategy is important for efficient results or the positive impact of the conservation efforts. </p>
<p>We provide new insights into where best to do reintroductions as a conservation action for the population enhancement of a long-lived co-operatively breeding bird species. We believe that the reintroduction program can reduce and reverse the population declines of the species.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Little receives funding from the South African Department of Science and Technology via the National Research Foundation. He is also vice-chairman of the Mabula Ground-Hornbill Project management board.</span></em></p>Reintroduction programs can really help stop the decline of the southern ground hornbills.Rob Little, Manager: DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/520732016-01-07T19:21:10Z2016-01-07T19:21:10ZHow we rediscovered ‘extinct’ giant tortoises in the Galápagos Islands – and how to save them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107453/original/image-20160106-14955-1uscslj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of the several precious giant tortoises recently found on Volcano Wolf, Galápagos Islands</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luciano Beheregaray</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Galápagos Islands, 1,000 kilometres off the coast of South America, are probably most famous as the place that inspired Charles Darwin’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-theory-of-evolution-2276">theory of evolution</a>. They are home to an extraordinary array of wildlife, including giant Galápagos tortoises, the world’s largest land-living cold-blooded animals. </p>
<p>The tortoises once thrived in the archipelago. There were originally 15 species that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/101/17/6514.full">evolved as the islands formed volcanically</a>. However, since the arrival of people four species have become extinct. </p>
<p>A few weeks ago we returned from an expedition to the islands in search of two of these extinct species of tortoises. It may sound like a fool’s errand, but our expedition was a success. </p>
<p>Here’s how we did it. </p>
<h2>Tortoises under threat</h2>
<p>The Galápagos Islands were colonised in the late 1800s. A combination of poaching by whalers and pirates, and introduced pests competing for food and eating eggs and hatchlings, led to tortoises being exterminated on some islands, and dramatically reduced on others. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107482/original/image-20160107-14966-93jac6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lonesome George, photographed before his death at the age of about 100.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/putneymark/1351695967/in/photolist-34rN7T-5bSaiw-9tj9ht-9tj94z-ddSFnF-5ZkkAG-5ZEWRd-6uBcng-2VoC8b-fSktL5-7qthop-5ZAK66-2VjeSp-frYxAd-oRuePR-6bwgpi-amMf7L-5ZEXzy-4z5wrn-4z9Kkf-4z9NVY-4z5AY2-4z9Q9d-4z9SCb-4z9LEf-4z5BRP-4z5uFp-4z5Bhr-4z5wVp-4z9LTQ-5ZEXjG-7pBkcK-djLaSB-nqnCJ-94aMU7-5Y6B6q-9tn6A7-au9qVd-au6Ljz-5Y2kq8-amQy7m-cm7hp3-cYsUQW-4z5uUX-4z5yTe-4z9TEf-4z9PtS-4z5vv8-4z9R97-4z9Pzq">Flickr/putneymark</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Darwin wrote about the harvesting of the species of tortoise found only on Floreana Island (<em><a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9023/0">Chelonoidis elephantopus</a></em>), which was exterminated within 15 years of his visit to the Galápagos in 1835. </p>
<p>The tortoise found only on Pinta Island (<a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/sotdfiles/chelonoidis-(nigra)-abingdonii.pdf"><em>Chelonoidis abingdoni</em></a>) went formally extinct in 2012, when its last representative, a male held in captivity and nicknamed <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-18574279">Lonesome George, died</a>. He was a major <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/lonesome-george-last-tortoise-his-kind-posthumous-display-nyc-180952833/?no-ist">conservation icon</a> and at one point considered by Guinness World Records as the world’s <a href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-endangered-animal/">rarest living creature</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=zXUWIAKxCpHk.kJdpTkVYSjfk" width="100%" height="480"></iframe>
<figcaption>The Galápagos Islands, showing locations mentioned in this story.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Finding extinct tortoises</h2>
<p>Ten years ago our genetic <a href="http://mscg.yale.edu/">research program</a> made a very surprising discovery. Some tortoises on Volcano Wolf, on Isabela Island, didn’t match others normally found on the volcano (<em>Chelonoidis becki</em>). Instead, their DNA matched that of the extinct species from <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/09/19/0805340105.abstract">Floreana</a> and <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070430/full/news070430-1.html">Pinta</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106589/original/image-20151218-8065-1rpuvvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Volcano Wolf – the highest point of the Galápagos Islands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luciano Beheregaray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These exciting discoveries led to an expedition on Volcano Wolf in 2008, where we tagged and sampled over 1,600 tortoises. DNA analyses revealed an astonishingly large number of tortoises with mixed genetic ancestry in this sample: 89 with DNA from Floreana and 17 with DNA from Pinta.</p>
<p>How was this possible?</p>
<p>It is likely that people have been moving tortoises around the islands. Old logbooks from the whaling industry indicate that, in order to lighten the burden of their ships, whalers and pirates dropped large numbers of tortoises in Banks Bay, near Volcano Wolf. </p>
<p>These animals were collected from lower altitudes islands (Floreana and Pinta) during centuries of exploitation by whalers and pirates, who made the archipelago a regular stop-off for their crews to stock up on these <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426071-300-galapagos-tortoises-untangling-the-evolutionary-threads/">handy living larders</a>. </p>
<p>Many of these tortoises made it to shore and eventually mated with the native Volcano Wolf species, producing hybrids that still maintain the distinctive saddleback shell found in the species from Floreana and Pinta. These hybrids include animals whose parents represent purebred individuals of the two extinct species.</p>
<h2>An arduous expedition</h2>
<p>Our recent expedition was aimed at finding the animals with a high proportion of ancestors from Floreana or Pinta. </p>
<p>It was ambitious, logistically complex, and very strenuous.</p>
<p>Our team of park rangers, scientists, and veterinarians from 10 countries were divided in nine groups of three to four people each. The daily mission included patrolling large areas of unstable razor-sharp lava fields and of spiny thick vegetation across Volcano Wolf, the tallest of the Galápagos. Added to this ordeal were the frequent encounters with wasps, the equatorial heat, and an El Niño induced six-day period of non-stop rain.</p>
<p>When one of the target tortoises was found, we would contact our mother ship by radio and clear the vegetation of the volcano slopes to make room for the cargo net of our expedition’s helicopter. The precious tortoise would then be moved into the net and airlifted to the ship, which was anchored in Banks Bay.</p>
<p>Our teams discovered more than 1,300 tortoises, including nearly 200 that potentially have mixed ancestry from Floreana or Pinta. We airlifted 32 of them to the ship and then to the captive breeding facility of the Galápagos National Park on the island of Santa Cruz. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106594/original/image-20151218-8068-1k4c9k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A giant Galápagos tortoise with ancestry of an extinct species being airlifted to our ship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Hunter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Included in the 32 were four females with Floreana genes and one male and one female from Pinta that were tagged and analysed in 2008.</p>
<h2>Reintroducing ‘extinct’ tortoises</h2>
<p>The DNA of these tortoises will be analysed to inform the best breeding strategy. We want to restore as much as possible the genes originally found on Floreana and Pinta.</p>
<p>The captive-born offspring of the two extinct species are expected to be released in their native islands within the next five to ten years.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106595/original/image-20151218-8081-13q58io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giant tortoises relocated by our expedition from the Volcano Wolf, Isabela Island, to the captive breeding program of the Galápagos National Park, Santa Cruz Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Flanagan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reintroduction of these tortoises to the islands where they evolved, together with large-scale habitat restoration efforts, is essential for the <a href="http://www.galapagos.org/conservation/conservation/project-areas/ecosystem-restoration/tortoise-restoration/">restoration of the island ecosystems</a>. These long-lived large herbivores act as <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110742">“ecosystem engineers”</a>, altering the habitat they live in to the benefit of other species. </p>
<p>Wouldn’t low genetic diversity hinder the long-term persistence of reintroduced populations?</p>
<p>This is a logical concern for reintroduction programs that rely on a small number of captive breeders. However, giant Galápagos tortoises can bounce back from major demographic crashes and respond well to reintroduction programs. </p>
<p>For instance, the Volcano Alcedo tortoise population, arguably the largest in the Galápagos, is derived from a single female lineage thought to have <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2003/031003/full/news03029-11.html">survived a catastrophic volcano</a> eruption in pre-historical times. </p>
<p>The reintroduction of over 1,500 captive-born offspring of the species once found on Española Island is another success story. The repatriated Española population, all derived from 15 captive breeders, now <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110742">seems well-established</a>.</p>
<p>Bringing back the Floreana and Pinta species from extinction, something inconceivable not long ago, is now a possibility. Its appeal is further increased by the fact that our expedition found that many more tortoises with genes from Floreana and Pinta still wander on the slopes of the Volcano Wolf. Adding them to breeding programs will boost the genetic diversity in the released individuals and calls for a new expedition soon to come. </p>
<p>We anticipate arduous but rewarding times ahead for giant tortoise conservation biologists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luciano Beheregaray receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adalgisa 'Gisella' Caccone receives funding from the Galápagos Conservancy and National Geographic Society for this research</span></em></p>When 100-year-old giant tortoise Lonesome George died in 2012, the world thought his species was lost forever. We went to the Galápagos Islands looking for ‘extinct’ tortoises – and we found them.Luciano Beheregaray, Professor in Biodiversity Genetics and ARC Future Fellow, Flinders UniversityAdalgisa 'Gisella' Caccone, Senior Research Scientist and Lecturer, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/492232015-10-20T01:53:43Z2015-10-20T01:53:43ZWant good conservation? Treat animals like trees, and ‘plant’ them in new areas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98780/original/image-20151019-25142-3aqsl2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Squirrel gliders aren't at risk, and hands-on conservation can keep them that way.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David M. Watson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Much of modern conservation is characterised by an unspoken philosophy of “build it and they will come”. If we plant the trees and restore the habitat, the animals will return. Right?</p>
<p>Over the past couple of decades this philosophy, nicknamed the <a href="http://www.palmerlab.umd.edu/docs/Palmer_et_al_1997_Rest_Ecol.pdf">Field of Dreams hypothesis</a>, had led many conservation practitioners to focus purely on plants. Then they simply cross their fingers and hope that other elements of the original ecosystem will eventually come back, just like the crowds who come to watch the baseball game and save the farm from ruin in the movie. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we now know that this hypothesis only applies in some circumstances, primarily involving mobile animals that can colonise these recreated habitats from afar. So while conventional restoration may work for birds, bats and butterflies, what happens to everything else?</p>
<p>For many animals that are unable or unwilling to colonise isolated habitat patches, the outlook is doubly grim. To begin with, as they are unable to move into recreated and regenerated habitats, they are effectively stranded. Then, in those areas where populations persist, crowding increases and survival diminishes as scant resources become stretched. </p>
<p>This can lead to a paradoxical situation in which increasing amounts of high-quality habitat remain unoccupied, while occupied sites become progressively worse as their resources dwindle. It is a recipe for the extinction of local populations, which in turn brings the entire species closer to dying out completely.</p>
<h2>Saving species while they’re still healthy</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715300847">Our solution</a> to this predicament is to apply the adage that prevention is better than cure. By moving common animals into unoccupied habitat patches well before their population health begins to decline, we can help to ensure that they stay common. </p>
<p>The idea of moving animals around isn’t new. But it has traditionally focused only on vulnerable, threatened and endangered species, often using expensive interventions with captive-raised individuals, and carried out by highly trained staff inside pristine reserves. These “species reintroductions” are seen as a last-ditch bid to avert imminent extinction, rather than as a way to keep populations healthy. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98763/original/image-20151018-25152-1pfk45d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fat-tailed dunnart, one of many native marsupials that would benefit from a helping hand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David M Watson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead of reintroducing captive-bred animals into the wild, we propose moving already-wild animals from populated areas into other suitable areas of habitat where they don’t currently live. As well as alleviating pressure in those areas where the species remain, this will help the species to disperse and allow its population to increase.</p>
<p>We call our proposal “wildlife restoration”, because it helps species overcome the problems of habitat fragmentation, much as forest restoration does the same thing for trees.</p>
<h2>Species and cities</h2>
<p>While the larger habitat patches in agricultural landscapes are likely to yield more successful outcomes in terms of animal populations, we see urban landscapes as ideal places for wildlife restoration. Our cities and suburban centres are not randomly located; they occupy areas with fertile soil and reliable rainfall, and because of this they often <a href="http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/research/research-news/6-8-2012-the-biodiverse-city.html">overlap with areas of high biodiversity</a>. </p>
<p>Far from being barren concrete wastelands, urban landscapes can support a surprising variety of wildlife, but only if those animals can find the right habitats. Once we start moving animals around to new areas, we can see what strategies will work and what won’t, and local communities can become involved and learn as they go.</p>
<p>If this sounds like meddling with nature, well, it is. But it is mindful meddling with a very clear purpose, unlike the changes wrought on natural systems by accident over the years. Exotic animals have become invasive pests, garden plants have spread and dominated bushland; household and agricultural chemicals have poisoned entire food webs.</p>
<h2>Candidate critters</h2>
<p>So, what kind of animals are we talking about? Familiar, widespread animals like blue-tongue lizards and sugar gliders in Australia, common shrews and fire salamanders in Europe, stinkpot turtles and bumblebees in North America. </p>
<p>Candidates for restoration need to be sufficiently abundant in areas close to potential release sites that the removal of individuals has no negative effect on the population. There also needs to be a careful assessment of the risks and potential threats – simple common sense would rule out introducing venomous snakes to an urban park, even though it might make great ecological sense!</p>
<p>Urban landscapes contain lots of high-quality habitats where animals might be released: cemeteries, golf courses, easements and buffers around airports, landfills and industrial sites, parks, established gardens, school grounds and university campuses. Many agricultural landscapes also contain vegetated hilltops, gullies, roadside strips and other useful habitat pockets.</p>
<p>Beyond that, rehabilitated mines or industrial sites, freeway buffer strips, or even green roofs or street trees could offer useful places for wildlife restoration.</p>
<p>The ultimate aim is to play an active role in creating a future with more wildlife and functioning ecosystems in the places where we live and farm. This future complements the idea of <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-isnt-about-nostalgia-exciting-new-worlds-are-possible-44854">rewilding</a>, but at the scale of communities rather than continents. We need to continue revegetating and building habitats everywhere we live, and we must also recognise that many animals need a helping hand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David M Watson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie J. Watson receives funding from Conservation Evidence. </span></em></p>We’re familiar with the idea of releasing almost-extinct species into new areas. By doing the same with common animals, we can help stop their population numbers getting into the same perilous state.David M Watson, Professor in Ecology, Charles Sturt UniversityMaggie J. Watson, Postdoctoral researcher in ecology, conservation and parasitology, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.