Just as the world’s zoos breed critically endangered animals in captivity to repopulate the wild, scientists are building a global effort to freeze corals for reef restoration.
New research shows that if captive breeding stopped tomorrow, orange-bellied parrots would soon become extinct. So we’re locked into breeding programs until we can solve the underlying problems.
The population of western chorus frogs has been declining over the past 60 years and continues to be an issue across Canada.
(Shutterstock)
Habitat protection and restoration, advanced reproductive technologies and reintroduction procedures could help slow the decline of western chorus frogs and other amphibians.
Wild ocelots hunt alone at night.
Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images
There are so few wild ocelots in the US that the cats are becoming inbred, with a bad prognosis for their ultimate survival. But researchers are perfecting ways to get new genes into the population.
Presenting accounts of technological success in captive lion breeding against the backdrop of rapidly diminishing wildlife loss lets humans off the hook too easily.
The Tonquin and Brazeau caribou herds in Jasper National Park are now so small that they cannot recover on their own.
(Parks Canada)
Breeding in captivity is expensive, and means the animal’s gene pool will be sorely depleted. Using sperm and egg freezing and IVF techniques can reduce that.
Many breeders say they’re stewards of conservation, but no captive tiger has ever been released into the wild.
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
The world mourns the loss of Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino. Can anything stop the slide of the species towards extinction?
Once cubs in captivity get too big to be stroked and cuddled by tourists, they’re sold into the canned hunting and Asian bone trade industries.
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If we want any future for wild populations of the numerous species traded for pets, exhibits and use in medicines, drastic action is needed to control their international and domestic trade.
Devils released back onto the Tasmanian mainland in the next step to fight the deadly DFTD disease.
Wildlife Management Branch, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
Computer dating for animals? Finding the right matchup - using DNA rather than personality questionnaires - could help select the best partnerships for captive breeding programs.
Today, many zoos promote the protection of biodiversity as a significant part of their mission. As conservation “arks” for endangered species and, increasingly, as leaders in field conservation projects…