European Endangered Species Program - EEP

One of the main activities of the EAZA, the European zoo association, are the European endangered species program (EEP). This program tries with specific and coordinated breed to preserve animal species which are threaten to die out.

Thus they followed the example of the American zoo association AZA with its species survival plans (SSP). Private-people and other institutions like universities or national-parks can also join the EEP in individual cases beside zoos.

Each animal species is managed by a zoo in frame of the EEP. The breeding-book of the population is managed by a local coordinator who gives recommendations for mating of individually animals to keep up an optimal gene pool. This is how the inbreeding risk is avoid because the coordinator decides which animals are mated because of close relatives aren`t allowed to be brought together. He also puts together new groups and organizes the exchange between the involved breeders. These coordinators meet each other every year on the EAZA annual meeting. They give reports and get professional advices. Guidelines of keeping for the respective species belong to it. The EEP are suggested by specialists for animal groups, the Taxon Advisory groups, of the EAZA and are confirmed and watched by the EEP-committee. 

The 150 EEP, which exist for now, care in their majority about mammals. Birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and invertebrates are getting breed too. A fewer intensive variant of an EEP are the European Studbook Programs, the ESB, of the EAZA, in this context another 140 species get breed.

An EEP leads in the best condition to constant, healthy and selfpreserving populations. In addition animals should be reintroduced, to support and rebuild the wildlife populations. Examples are the European bison or the Przewalski horse. 

A disease can completely erase a species or a race, if there are only a few exemplars of this species or the race left. Because of that the disease protection is very important by the keeping of threatened animals. A weakening of the total portfolio can lead to the impossibility of a successful breed with the remaining animals. Because of that it is important to scatter the exemplars of threatened animals widely and to pass on them to other animal parks. By synthetic insemination and modern possibility of transport the program is maintained. In certain circumstances the delivery of exemplars to private citizens is a precious help and in particular it is carried out by livestock breeds, which can be kept under usually agriculturally conditions.

Oskar

The IUCN – an organization which cares about our natural heritage

Who is the IUCN?

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is a self-financing, non-governmental organization with its headquarters in Switzerland. Many people work there (in DE about 1000) who are also internationally close to each other.


What are they doing? What's the red list?

The IUCN takes care of the data collection and best estimate control of all animals and plants of the world. They have also created the Red List to illustrate which animals/plants are at risk and to tell other organizations where they can help.


What are the criteria?

When a stock is at risk, as in the case of the Malaysian taster animal, immediate measures are taken to conserve the species and its habitat. In addition, employees are sent to check the population regularly. This animal is improving at the moment but this condition can change in no time at all.


What is the general tendency today? And what are the reasons for becoming in danger?

The number of endangered species is increasing rapidly, because the habitat is directly destroyed by humans. Many species are also poached as trophies. In addition, the climate change of the many animals brings in distress. 


Who cares? Why should we save species from extinction at all? 

It is important to preserve the biodiversity of the earth because it is not nice to be surrounded by only one kind of fish or animal. It is also important to maintain the balance between hunter and hunted as it would be hardening if there were too many herbivores or carnivores


Johannes


IUCN categories of endangerment (Global number of species)

EX - Extinct (872)
EW - Extinct In the wild (69)
CR – Critical endangered (5826)
EN - Endangered (9032)
VU - Vulnerable (11982)
LR / cd – Lower risk - Conservation dependent (209)
LR / nt – Lower risk – near threatened (6153)
LR / lc - Least Concern (47753)
DD - Data deficient (15055)

Endangered species

Nowadays about 22000 species of plants and animals are considered to be endangered.

When is a species considered to be endangered?

A species is endangered when…

-          Its population is low or dropped sharply in the last few years.

-          the living space is no longer suitable for the species because of size or condition

-          condition had deteriorated or the size became smaller

-          Due to the low reproductive rate losses could not be compensated anymore.

Why the species become extinct

-          Farming: pesticides destroy species and fertilizers change the ground, fields are built where previously were habitants for many species

-          Climate change: Species cannot adjust to the steady temperature increase are no longer comparative will be displaced by other species. The same effect is also in the sea, acid rain become to a problem of complex eco-systems.

-          Humans, who behave disrespectful towards the nature and hunt lions for example, pick rare plants and do not care about nature reserves

-          Introduced species: animals or plants are introduced from foreign countries through the increasing globalization by sea or flight path. They replace the native species, an example is the Asian Harlequin-ladybug (right picture), who prevailed against the native one´s.

Red List

-          list of endangered, missing or extinct animal and plant species

-          significant decision support, natural reserve´s “fever thermometer”

-          is elaborated every 10 years all around the world

-          currently 207 of the 478 native species (43 per cent) are classified as endangered

-          32 German species are already missing

What can we do against the loss of species?

-          Fighting the causes of hazards

-          Care and maintenance of existing reserves

-          Despite strict lawfully protection species such as field hamsters, ruffians and lapwings will disappear if nature conservation is not consequently defended.

-          Land owners must be involved and supported in this mission, and agriculture in particular must confess its responsibility for the plants and animals living in the cultural landscape.

Eric T.

Endangered Species in Germany

Christian Fischer CC-BY-SA 3.0, www.wikipedia.de

Amphibians are the most endangered vertebrate group in Germany. Favorable rest and ovipositional storage spaces in sunny location became rare, so the nature reserves, in which trouble-free zones by the water, on rocks or dry slopes, are very important for lizards and snapse.

The “Knoblauch” (garlic) toad became rear by German waters.

Violet copper butterflies live on wetlands, mostly near rivers, lakes and moors with large populations of caterpillar feed plants. Its range is restricted to southern Germany.
Photo: Frank Vassen, CC-BY 2.0, www.wikipedia.de

The agriculture, which occupies about 50 per cent the German land area 

threat the common snipe´s living space.

Photo: Alpsdake, www.wikipedia.de CC-BY-SA 3.0

The agriculture, which occupies about 50 per cent the German land area 
threat the common snipe´s living space.
Photo: Alpsdake, www.wikipedia.de CC-BY-SA 3.0

Farming the fields is the reason why field hamsters decline. If the harvest would be left standing on the edge of the field and if would be dispensed with chemical fertilizers the rodent would have a saved living space.
Photo:
Agnieszka Szeląg, CC-BY-SA 3.0
http://www.kul.pl/foto/2/1467_25323.jpg

The rebreeding of the Quagga

The Quagga is an extinct zebra form. It is a subspecies of the famous plains zebra. Typical for the Quagga is, that on its body and on its legs are almost no stripes anymore, instead of it there is a yellow-brownish primary color. The Quagga lived in South Africa. Mainly in dry Prairie areas, from the Oranje-lake and the Vaal-lake up to the Great-Kei-River. It was exterminated by the humans in the end of the 19th century.

Drawing of a Quagga

Picture: public domain, Nicolas Marechal, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quagga.jpg

Genetic investigations confirmed, that the Quagga is closely related to the plains Zebra. DNA-investigations, which were published in 1984, prompted to a rebreeding project of the Quagga out of the southern plains zebra. At a few representative of the south subspecies of the south plains Zebra you can see a reduction of the stripes what reminds to the Quagga. The “Quagga Project” tries to build a plains-zebra-breeding-line by selective breed and they should look like the Quaggas. At selective breed will two animals with equal appearance crossbred with each other so they can reproduce themselves. A few offspring of the third generation have a substantially stripes reduction.

Picture of zebras from the „Quagga project“  

Picture:
CC-BY-SA 3.0, Oggmus,

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Rau_Quagga_on_Devils_Peak.jpg

The aim of the project is an animal which looks very similar like the Quagga and may be reintroduced in the former habitats of the Quagga.

Rebirth of the mammoth?

The mammoth became extinct about 4000 years ago. The size of mammoths varied from species to species, but on average they reached 2.8 to 3.7m shoulder height, corresponding to today's elephants.

Since 2008 the genetic information of mammoths has been decoded by about 70 %. Thus it is known that they are more closely related to the Asian than to the African elephants. Now scientists want to clone mammoths again, to be exact, the best known species of woolly mammoths. To do this, the genetic material of a mammoth must be implanted in an Asian elephant so that the Asian elephant cow (female elephant) can carry the mammoth clone. However, the Asian elephant is already on the red list of endangered species and is listed as very endangered. The population of the Asian elephant has declined in the last 60 - 75 years by 50%. Therefore, the recloning attempt will not be started until the Asian elephant is back off the Red List of endangered species.

However, the habitat of mammoths is no longer the same as it used to be, there are cold regions on earth but they are cold and humid, they are not used to mammoths, they are used to dry cold steppe habitat. This could lead to problems...

Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) 
in a late Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain. (painted by Mauricio Antón).
C. Sedwick (1 April 2008). "What Killed the Woolly Mammoth?". PLoS Biology 6 (4): e99. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060099 via wikipedia.org CC-BY-SA © 2008 Public Library of Science

International breeding programs run by zoos close to our hometowns:

Zoos participate in more than those programs when they are keeping the species. The mentioned programms are run by scientists working in our local zoos.

Frankfurt:

•   Rhinoceros iguana
•   Sunbittern
•   Slender loris
•   Rusty-spotted cat
•   Gorilla

Kronberg (Taunus):

•     Babirusa

A Sulawesi babirusa. Those Asian pigs 

belong to one of the EEP, 

Picture: Masteraah, CC-BY-SA 2.0 DE, Wikipedia commons

•     Mesopotamian fallow deer

Barcelona:

•    White-naped pheasant pigeon
•    Cherry-crowned mangabey
•    Black-crested mangabey
•    Iberian wolf

Lisbon:

•   Lowland nyala
•   Californian sealion
•   Golden conure
•   Spiny hill turtle
•   Blue spotted stingray
•   Persian leopard

Nico

European Endangered Species Programs - EEP

One of the main activities of the EAZA, the European zoo association, are the European endangered species programs (EEP). This program tries with specific and coordinated breed to preserve animal species which are threaten to die out.

Thus they followed the example of the American zoo association AZA with its species survival plans (SSP). Private-people and other institutions like universities or national-parks can also join the EEP in individual cases beside zoos.

Each animal species is managed by a zoo in frame of the EEP. The breeding-book of the population is managed by a local coordinator who gives recommendations for mating of individually animals to keep up an optimal gene pool. This is how the inbreeding risk is avoid because the coordinator decides which animals are mated because of close relatives aren`t allowed to be brought together. He also puts together new groups and organizes the exchange between the involved breeders. These coordinators meet each other every year on the EAZA annual meeting. They give reports and get professional advices. Guidelines of keeping for the respective species belong to it. The EEP are suggested by specialists for animal groups, the Taxon Advisory groups, of the EAZA and are confirmed and watched by the EEP-committee.

The 150 EEP, which exist for now, care in their majority about mammals. Birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and invertebrates are getting breed too. A fewer intensive variant of an EEP are the European Studbook Programs, the ESB, of the EAZA, in this context another 140 species get breed.

An EEP leads in the best condition to constant, healthy and selfpreserving populations. In addition animals should be reintroduced, to support and rebuild the wildlife populations. Examples are the European bison or the Przewalski horse.

A disease can completely erase a species or a race, if there are only a few exemplars of this species or the race left. Because of that the disease protection is very important by the keeping of threatened animals. A weakening of the total portfolio can lead to the impossibility of a successful breed with the remaining animals. Because of that it is important to scatter the exemplars of threatened animals widely and to pass on them to other animal parks. By synthetic insemination and modern possibility of transport the program is maintained. In certain circumstances the delivery of exemplars to private citizens is a precious help and in particular it is carried out by livestock breeds, which can be kept under usually agriculturally conditions. 

Oskar

An interview in the Barcelona Zoo

In this video Spanish students from the Erasmus+ team interview Joan, an educator who works in the Zoo. They talk about the importance to keep biodiversity, what does mean its loss and how Zoos work to preserve it.

Tasmanian devils - in danger of extinction because of cancer?

Tasmanian Devils are today the largest surviving marsupial predators. They are only available on the Australian island of Tasmania. In 1999 about 100,000 of their kind were still alive. Their greatest threat today is transmissible cancer.  As a result the population has collapsed by 85%. It is feared that the species will die out in the near future.

The main problem of the devil

Young Tasmanian Devil,

picture: KeresH, www.wikipedia.org CC BY-SA 4.0

The disease that afflicts pouched devils is known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD). The pathogen is an infectious tumor, that is, the cancer cells themselves are the transmitted pathogen. Only one more disease is known worldwide for such an infection path. In regions that were densely populated with devils, all of them died within a period of twelve to eighteen months. So far, the outbreak of the disease has focused on the eastern Tasmania. At the beginning of 2005, however, three cases were reported in the south of the island. If the development continues the same, Tasmanian devils will die out within the next 20 to 30 years. The living Tasmanian devils are all relatively closely related. As a result, their immune systems are very similar - a disadvantage in warding off this disease, as it can spread more easily.

Disease

Swelling and lumps around the mouth are the first symptom. These nodules develop into tumors that spread from the head over the entire body. The tumors disturb the animals when eating and affected animals eventually starve because they are no longer able to absorb food.

Conservation and cure

In March 2013, Cambridge University researchers found a starting point for a vaccine. There is still a need for more testing and research, but the new findings could, for the first time, provide a way to protect the planet's last great predatory planets from final extinction. Action is also taken to introduce an ex-situ survival plan. This means that zoos try to have a healthy population outside the devils natural habitat – for example in zoos outside Australia. Because of that Tasmanian devils are on exhibit in zoos as Copenhagen in Denmark oder Planckendael zoo in Beligium.

Persian Fallow Deer - conservation programme close to Babenhausen

Persian or Mesopotamian Fallow Deer were widespread in Northern Africa and near east during the last ice age. Today, the stag is one of the least known animals that almost died out around the 20th century. During an expedition of Georg von Opel to Iran in 1958 he took three animals to Kronberg to the Opel Zoo (60 km away from Babenhausen). In the wild the species was considered extinct. Through targeted breeding, there are currently 300 animals worldwide, including some in semi-wild keeping in their original homeland. Since 2013 the official studbook in run at Kronberg Zoo and so is the management of the breeding programme.

Nico

In summer the deer present a characteristic reddish colour. Picture: Joachim S.Müller, https://www.flickr.com/photos/joachim_s_mueller/3677129221, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Pictures from a visit to Pasiliai European Bison sanctuary

On April 3rd 2019, a group of eight students from the Erasmus+ international project “Carry on the Flame” visited the Pasiliai European Bison Sanctuary in the north of Lithuania. The European was the first animal to be rescued through a breeding programm almost a hundert years ago. They now have been reintroduced into several European countries.

Bison bonasus is the largest mammal in Europe

The enclosures