EAZA Deer TAG Long Term Trends Current Situation Activities

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EAZA Deer TAG Long term trends Current situation Activities

EAZA Deer TAG Meeting Wroclaw, September 2015 Long term trends

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Are deer popular?

Popularity contest

600 9000

8000 500 7000

400 6000

5000 holders 300 animals 4000

Holders

Animals

200 3000

2000 100 1000

0 0 canidae felidae apes elephants equids cervids

Order

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Number of deer in EAZA zoos

8000 700

7000 600

6000 500

5000 400

4000

300 3000

Numberindividuals of

Numberdeer of exhibits 200 2000

100 1000

0 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Problem - Number of EAZA and ARKS/ZIMS users also increased overtime... AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Population size by management

7000 1200

6000 1000

5000 800

4000

600

3000

400

2000 Managedspecies

Unmanagedspecies

200 1000

0 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 There is a constant increase in numbers of individuals of managed species, but stability in numbers of individuals of unmanaged ones in recent years

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Population size by management

7000

6000

5000

4000 Managed Not managed 3000

2000

1000

0 199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014 However, despite the difference in trends, the shear number of unmanaged species may limit the future growth in population of managed ones AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Population size by management and category

5000

4500

4000

3500

3000 Managed 2500 Not important Important – n.p. 2000

1500

1000

500

0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Furthermore, the trends hide a difference between unmanaged "common" species, whose populations continue to grow, and unmanaged important species, whose populations have been stable or decreasing. AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Number of exhibits by management and category

350

300

250

200 Managed Important – n.p. Not important 150

100

0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

The population trends are to some degree reflected in the number of exhibits that are allocated to each category, although number of exhibits for "common" species is stable and not increasing. AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 However, managed species do not include all the threatened species or otherwise important ones and, therefore, this table was formed to easily show which species are recommended for keeping (NOT necessarily for management) and which are not.

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Population size by TAG recommendation category

5000

4500

4000

3500

3000 Green Yellow 2500 Red

2000

Numberindividuals of 1500

1000

500

0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 There is a similar trend, regardless of management – population of important and not important species grow, but these of medium importance (regardless of reason) are stable or decreasing. AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Number of exhibits by category

350

300

250

Green 200 Yellow Red 150

100

0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 And again similar trends when it comes to space – there is an increase in exhibits of important species, a slower one in those of species of medium importance and stability in the number of exhibits of unimportant species AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Current situation

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 A total of 7,471 deer, musk-deer and chevrotains are kept by EAZA member zoos in 687 yard spaces, which are distributed among 204 EAZA member zoos (“yard spaces” include different exhibit at the same zoo and several species living together in mixed exhibits).

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 80

90 50

80 40

Numberzoos of 30 60

20 50

40 10 Numberzoos of 30 0 1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10+ 20 Number of taxa kept

0 1-9 10-29 30-49 50-99 100-149 >150 Number of individuals kept

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 IUCN categories do not reflect % of animals in collections reliably the contribution to 80 70 conservation of keeping deer 60 taxa, since these are not 50 40 assessed to subspecies level 30 (e.g. Cervus nippon – LC, but C. 20 10 n. pseudaxis - EW 0 EW CR EN VU NT LC DD - Yard spaces 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 EW CR EN VU NT LC DD -

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Managed species do not include all the threatened species or otherwise important ones and, therefore, this table was formed to easily show which species are recommended for keeping (NOT necessarily for management) and which are not.

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 5000 500

4500 450

4000 400

3500 350

3000 300

2500 250

Individuals 200 2000 Yardspaces

1500 150

1000 100

500 50

0 0 Green Yellow Red EEP ESB MON None Management level 400 350 Population management levels 300

250 and TAG recommendations 200 better reflect the contribution

Yardspaces 150

100 to conservation (incl. 50 education and research) of 0 Green Yellow Red keeping deer. TAG Recommendation

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 But still too many yard spaces are allocated for non-managed or non- recommended species and too many animals of these species are kept by EAZA zoos. Only about 30% of yards are allocated to threatened species and 48% to recommended ones.

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 70 Although 75% of zoos keep more than one deer species, 60 many don’t keep a managed 50 or recommended one, and 40 only relatively few keep more 30 than one. Holdingzoos 20

100 10 90 0 80 0 1 2 3 4 5+ 70 No. of recommended species

50 80 70 40 Holdingzoos 60 30 50 40 20 30 20 10 Number of zoos 10 0 0 1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10+ 0 1 2 3 4 5+ Number of taxa kept No. of managed species

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 120

110

100

0 AT BE CZ DK FI FR DE HU IT NL PL RU SK ES SE CH GB

Yard spaces managed species Recommended members

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 60

0 AT BE CZ DK FI FR DE HU IT NL PL RU SK ES SE CH GB

% managed % green members

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Summary: • Deer are popular, with many zoos keeping more than one species • Too many yards are allocated to unimportant species • IUCN categories are not a good parameter to assess contribution to conservation of deer taxa • Zoos prefer to have managed species (RCP; PR) or common, easy to get species. Programs are important to encourage keeping of certain species, even if there is no genetic value to the management • Contribution to deer conservation could be better… • Focus should be given to promote keeping of important deer species in some countries

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Activities

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Population management The EAZA Deer TAG runs 15 programs: 5 EEPs – Dama mesopotamica (EN); Ceruvs nippon pseudaxis (EW); Rucervus eldii thamin (EN); Pudu puda (VU); Tragulus javanicus/kanchil (DD) 7 ESBs – Cervus albirostris (VU); Axis porcinus (EN); Rangifer tarandus fennicus (threatened); Tragulus nigricans (EN); Elaphodus cephalophus (NT); Rusa alfredi (EN); Cervus elaphus bactrianus (threatened) 3 Monitoring – Cervus canadensis sibiricus ; Axis kuhlii (CR); Cervus nippon taiouanus (threateneded)

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Collection planning tools o RCP o Deer in mixed exhibits database o Species recommendation table o Lazy curator’s tool – sortable Excel table

Milu Conservation Symposium Beijing, November 2015 Husbandry guidelines Deer TAG members produce husbandry manuals and best practice guidelines for the species that they are responsible for. These can be downloaded by all EAZA members and, sometimes, by the general public as well. Tragulus javanicus (published) Pudu puda (published) Rangifer tarandus fennicus (2015) Rucervus eldii thamin (in prep) Elaphodus cephalophus (in prep) Alces alces (in prep)

Deer in mixed exhibits database AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Education and public outreach

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Research o Taxonomy: • Formosan sika deer (Cervus nippon taiouanus) • Indochinese sika deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis) • Indochinese hog deer (Axis porcinus annamiticus) o Artificial insemination • Altai wapiti (Cervus canadensis sibiricus) o Behavior o Morphology o Post-release tracking

AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 In-situ conservation The TAG and its members are involved in conservation projects in range countries – providing animals, expertise, work, and fund-raising. Rangifer tarandus fennicus reintroduction (Finland) Rusa alfredi conservation (Philippines) Tragulus nigricans conservation (Philippines) Axis porcinus annamiticus conservation (Cambodia) Rucervus eldii conservation (Cambodia) Rucervus duvaucelii translocation (India) Dama mesopotamica reintroduction (Israel) Cervus Nippon pseudaxis (China – proposed( AZA Ungulate TAGs Mid-Year Meeting Omaha, NE, March 2016 Thank you very much!