Managing Species Populations Under Human Care

By Sarah Murphy, Education Specialist

Zoos have certainly changed over the years, as discussed in my first post about the evolution of zoos from menageries all the way to conservation centers. There is now so much science, observation, and research put into keeping happy and healthy animals and species populations under human care and around the world. Today, I am going to dive into this to explain how zoos decide which animals to breed and why this management is so important for conservation.

• 

• 

So, how do zoos decide which animals can breed? Is it a free-for-all? What type of regulations can you really put on animals? How do you stop two animals from breeding or breeding attempts?

All AZA-accredited zoos follow Species Survival Plans (SSPs) for nearly every animal species in their care. These SSPs serve the purpose of regulating which individuals are put together for breeding in order to increase genetic diversity in the species. AZA zoos work like a network, sharing information about their animals, programs and facilities. Through this network, SSPs can generate favorable matches within a species to increase the likelihood that desired characteristics will be passed from one generation to another. What this means is that a zoo cannot just decide to put their male and female tigers together just because they want tiger cubs or because the zoo believes their male and female would produce good/cute/healthy offspring. When it comes down to it, breeding within AZA zoos must be approved and recommended by the SSP.

Why does this matter though? Why can’t a zoo just decide to breed their male and female tiger? If zoos bred their animals however they wanted, there could be several negative outcomes. Here are a couple examples: One- animals could become inbred, producing offspring with health issues and abnormalities. When there is not care or consideration put in to how closely related animals are, bigger problems could arise for the species in that they could lose characteristics that make them more fit and able to survive in their natural habitat. Two- when animals are allowed to breed without regulation, there could actually be too many individuals of that species. Each facility has a capacity for how many animals they can successfully house, taking into account the resources, space and time needed for the animals to have good quality of life.

Luckily, accredited zoos and other responsible facilities use means such as birth control, separating potential breeding pairs, and other ways to prevent breeding that is not approved or for which the facility is not prepared. While there are many ways that breeding can be controlled and be used in a way to help save species populations, we still see far too many “roadside zoos” that breed for the sake of having baby animals to show off to and make money from their visitors. This is exactly what we saw with the GW Zoo, now GW Exotic Animal Park, in Oklahoma.

CONSERVATION

Everything I have talked about in this four-part Tiger King blog series leads me to my final topic: Conservation. The whole reason zoos exist today is to protect wildlife and wild places that are at risk of becoming endangered or extinct. The sad truth is that many species are endangered due to climate change and human activity, so those in zoo/animal professions have taken it upon themselves to take action to save species through research, field work, education, and just about any other way we can think. To better understand why species become at risk, I am going to use the acronym HIPPO to explain five major factors that endanger animals or even cause them to go extinct:

Now, how are zoos, specifically the El Paso Zoo, helping to combat these five factors? Zoos all over the world are involved in countless conservation efforts that not only support wildlife, but also their habitats. Conservation efforts include projects in the field, fundraising to support organizations, citizen science, actions taken in everyday life, and more. The El Paso Zoo has always taken an active role in conservation to help protect wildlife and wild places.

Here are some examples from the many programs, projects, and organizations the El Paso Zoo supports (click on the name of each organization to be taken to their website):

ROUND UP: Zoo guests are encouraged to round up their gift shop and cafe purchases to the nearest dollar amount. This change, from one penny up to 99 cents, supports conservation efforts all over the world. Each year, the El Paso Zoo’s Conservation Committee votes for three species to represent the Round Up program. This has included the African lion, Amur leopard, Bolson tortoise, giraffe, Mexican wolf, African painted dog, Przewalski’s horse, rattlesnakes, and Sumatran orangutan. The 2020 Round Up species are the Bali Mynah, Jaguar, and Addax.

ELEPHANT FLYING SQUAD: Saving Asian elephants in Sumatra. Learn about this organization by reading this post written by Rick LoBello.

PROYECTO TITI: The mission of Proyecto Titi is to protect the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin and their habitat in Colombia.

SECOND CHANCE WILDLIFE RESCUE: This local organization takes in orphaned, injured and sick native wildlife to help rehabilitate and release animals back to their habitat.

LION GUARDIANS: These Maasai Warriors in Africa have changed the way they view lions so that instead of killing them, Lion Guardians now work to protect lions through monitoring the animals’ movements and educating communities on how to coexist with lions.

PRZEWALSKI’S HORSE CONSERVATION: Misha is the first animal born at the El Paso Zoo that will be realeased in the wild! Born to Vitalis and Brianna, Misha joined the EP Zoo family in 2017. In 2019, she was sent to Minnesota Zoo to better acclimate to cold winter weather before she will be sent to Russia. Read Misha’s story, written by keeper Rebecca Bradley, here.

FIELD WORK: Apart from supporting conservation through fundraising efforts, the El Paso Zoo has also taken many opportunities to send staff members to participate in projects in the field. Most recently, a group of zoo staff was sent to Big Bend to remove invasive plant species along the river (full story). In 2018, I was chosen to help with a Mexican wolf catch-up at Ladder Ranch in New Mexico. These wolves were given health checks, vaccinations, and some were being relocated to other facilities (full story). Luis Villanueva, Area 2’s Senior Keeper, spent 16 days in Madagascar in 2018 to assist the Turtle Survival Alliance in the recovery and care of over 10,000 confiscated radiated tortoises (full story).

Again, this list makes up just a small portion of the conservation work the El Paso Zoo supports and in which we actively take part. Just as with most other zoos, it is our mission to protect wildlife and their habitats, and while we can do this by sending money and staff to major conservation organizations, a big part of saving this planet stems from YOU.

By creating an environment and managing a facility for people to see and learn about animals and places from around the world, we aim to inspire a deeper appreciation for wildlife within the hearts and minds of our zoo guests. With that deeper appreciation, built from seeing animals in our Zoo, we hope that our guests will go out and take action, big or small, in their lives to continue the fight to preserve a world full of diverse animals, plants and wild places.