Captive management of Birds
Dhananjai Mohan
Why conserve birds:
Ecosystem Services
- Ecosystem services: Important place in the food chain: Ecological
balance
- Direct role: Leaf Warblers in 1 ha. of tropical Forests consume 12000
insects in a day; in all 40 insectivorous birds in 1 ha. consuming 55000
insects a day. (KMTR, TN)
- Removing them >Foliage tattered >
endangered Langurs devoid of
food > fewer flowers and fruits >
nectarivores and frugivores
get less food >regeneration goes down > ground dries faster >……
- Similar role in agricultural insect pest control
Why conserve birds: Recreation
- Aesthetics
- Birdwatching:
fastest
growing
outdoor
recreational activity in the US; 20% population
participated
- In UK one in three are birdwatchers
- In India too a hobby growing at a fast pace: local
e-groups and associations
- Special hobby unique to birds
Why conserve birds: Economics
- In US $25 billion industry
- Birding Business magazine
- The Economist journal (Aug 2004)
- RSPB has 1m members
- Runs the Rutland water birding fair (16th yr)
- $5.4 m in 3 days
- Number of serious birdwatchers in US has
surpassed hunters
- Swarovski: sale of optical instruments for
birdwatching is going up
- Ecotourism
- 12 resorts in CTR catering to birdwatchers
only (2001)
Why
conserve
birds:
Research and Monitoring
- Important subject for evolutionary and behavioural
research
- Monitoring of habitats
- easily available predators, conspicuous
- Omnipresent
- good population of birds & birdwatchers
Conservation of Birds in India
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 1230 species of birds out of 9000+ birds in the world (>13%)
 48 of the 75 families represented
– Merger of Oriental, Palearctic and Afrotropical realms
– Wide habitat diversity
 Trans-Himalayas, Himalayas, Desert, Semi-Arid region,
Western Ghats, DeccanPeninsula, Gangetic plains,
North-Eastern India and Islands
– Good conservation history
– Religio-cultural practices
Conservation of Birds in India
 Priority Setting for Conservation
– Single species approach
 Red Data Books: Birds to Watch
– Area - based approaches
Geopolitical units ranking
 By total number of threatened (Cr, EN & Vu) bird species
–
–
–
–
–
.(104) Indonesia
.(103) Brazil
.(86) Philippines
.(86) China
.(73) India.
Important Bird Areas (IBA)
 Identify, document, and advocate the protection and management of
a network of sites that are important for the long term viability of
naturally occurring bird populations
Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN)
 To promote conservation of birds and their habitats thru’ dev. Of
national n/w of individuals, organisations and the govt.
 Constituents
– Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)
– Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) UK
– BirdLife International
Inventories of internationally recognized sites vital for the conservation of
birds
 Four standard global criteria
 Globally threatened species
 Restricted Range Species
 Biome restricted species (8 biomes)
 Congregation
IBA Progress so far
 Various state and regional consultations held since 1999
 465 IBAs identified
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 Final report released on 5th Nov.2004 in the form of a very detailed
account of each IBA
– 1200 page document
– c. 1000 contributors
Captive breeding and management of birds
IUCN policy
 Ex situ: To maintain present biodiversity levels through all available
and effective means including, where appropriate, ex situ
propagation, translocation and other ex situ methodologies.
 Captive breeding: IUCN urges that those national and international
organizations and those individual institutions concerned with
maintaining wild animals in captivity commit themselves to a general
policy of developing demographically self-sustaining captive
populations of endangered species wherever necessary.
National Zoo policy
 The objective of the zoos shall be to complement and strengthen the
national efforts in conservation and strengthen the national efforts in
conservation of the rich biodiversity of the country, particularly the
fauna
World Pheasant Association:
Conservation breeding policy
 Conservation breeding of Galliformes should be undertaken as part
of an integrated recovery strategy
 Managers of captive populations that are being managed for
conservation purposes should adhere to the principles, and
practices of population management.
 Reintroduction is not an automatic consequence of conservation
breeding and should only be undertaken in accordance with the
IUCN position Statement on Translocation of Living Organisms
(1987) and the IUCN/SSC Guidelines for Reintroductions (1996)
Captive breeding and species reintroductions
 Ex situ conservation: captive breeding, gene and seed banks, zoos
and aquaria and all other forms of maintaining species artificially and
off-site. Contrasts with in situ methods such as parks and habitat
management.
 Introductions: releasing animals (captive or wild born) where they
never existed. Usually because old habitat is gone or degraded, not
available, but the new habitat is considered suitable
 Reintroductions: releasing captive born animals where they once
existed. Only successful after you have corrected the cause(s) of the
original population decline.
 Translocations: moving wild-born animals from one place to another.
This is done when the wild population is in imminent danger of
extinction due to habitat alteration.
Captive Breeding Programs in Birds
 10% of all bird species have been bred in captivity
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 Bald Eagle, Andean Condors, Bobwhite Quail, Greater Sandhill
Cranes have been bred successfully and released in the wild
 Primary groups where captive breeding has been tried with success
are raptors, cranes, waterfowl, pheasants, parrots.
Rules For A Successful Reintroduction
 You need a self-sustaining Captive Population
 Require A Suitable Amount Of Adequate And Protected Habitat
 Effective Techniques To Prepare Animals For Reintroduction
 Post-release Monitoring And Evaluation
 Professional And Public Education
 Sufficient Long-term Funding Potential
Californian Condor
 15 birds (incl. 5 breeding pairs): 1984
 3 males in 1986; 21 in captivity
 Reasons for decline
– shooting by hunters
– poisoning with bait intended for coyotes
– contamination of their food with DDT, other pesticides and
lead
– egg collecting by unscrupulous oologists
– general harassment
– food scarcity and habitat destruction
Californian Condor: recovery plan
 Centerpiece of the program: captive breeding
 The single egg normally laid in each nest would be removed (the
female will often lay a second) and the young condor would be
reared under laboratory conditions
 The goal was to establish a captive population that later could be
used to restock empty habitat
 Captive breeding success in the past was a ray of hope
 Condors breeding successfully now in the wild
Brown Teal
 Less than 1000 birds in the world
 Brown Teal captive breeding program
– to maintain, manage and develop the Brown Teal captive
breeding programmet
– to retain known genetic diversity
– annually supply known quality birds for release in the
quantities and at the times required by the recovery
programme
– to contribute to Brown Teal advocacy
 2000 birds have been reared in captivity since 1964.
 These have originated from just 76 wild birds.
 21.5 birds being released for every wild bird taken into the
programme
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 The captive population is more than 300% more efficient at
producing these birds than are wild populations
Recovery of Brown Teals
Cranes
 Research into breeding techniques has intensified since the 1960s
 15 species worldwide
 Can be reliably bred With few exceptions—the West African Crowned
Crane, Wattled Crane, and Hooded Cranes
 maintenance of a captive population: necessary component of an
overall strategy for ensuring viable wild populations: CAMP
Captive propagation techniques
 double clutching or single egg removal
 hatching of eggs collected from the wild
 Translocation
 rearing at release sites
 releasing young
 supplemental feeding
Captive propagation techniques
 Active reintroduction programs currently exist for the Whooping,
Siberian, Mississippi Sandhill, Red-crowned, White-naped, and
Wattled Cranes
 Sandhill Cranes have been used as surrogates to develop release
methods for endangered cranes
Results: mixed bag
 Greater Sandhill Cranes have been released onto breeding grounds
with conspecifics and have successfully migrated (85%) and bred
 Main obstacles to successful releases: the difficulty of teaching
migration routes to young birds, especially when wild conspecifics
are not available
 Ultralight aircraft to lead the way; trucking birds between resting
areas
 Attempts to release birds on their wintering grounds have failed to
date
Results….contd.
 For Sandhill and Whooping Cranes, the highest survival rates have
been observed among offspring that have been raised by costumed
humans and released as juveniles; Parent-reared birds have survived
at lower rates and do better when mixed with costume-reared chicks
 Cross-fostering eggs into the wild nests of a more abundant species
has been attempted with Whooping Cranes and Siberian Cranes.
This technique is being tested on Siberian Cranes in the hope that
the chicks cross-fostered by Eurasians can serve as guide birds for
Siberians reared using other methods
Pheasants
 Easy to breed
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 In India, Cheer and Western Tragopan have bred in captivity in
Himachal Pradesh. No releases done till now.
 Extensively bred for zoo exhibits
Some new Tricks
 Cross – fostering
– Young raised by closely related sp.
– Prevalent in birds: Jungle fowl and domestic chicken,
Whooping crane eggs placed in Sandhill Crane nests
 Artificial Incubation
– Mainly for reptiles and fishes
 Artificial Insemination
– Mainly for mammal
 Embryo Transfer
– Mainly for mammal
– Embryo produced artificially transferred to the womb of a
related non-endangered sp.
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