2012 Annual Report Conservation Science 1 TABLE of CONTENTS
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2012 Annual Report conservation science 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Introduction 5 BACK FROM THE BRINK Blue Iguanas 8 SCIENCE SAVES SPECIES 10 FIELD CONSERVATION PROJECTS — International 13 RESTORING A FRESHWATER NATIVE Southern Appalachian Brook Trout 15 FIELD CONSERVATION PROJECTS — United States 56 A DISEASE-FREE FUTURE FOR ETHIOPIAN WOLVES A Wolf Vaccine in Sheep’s Clothing 58 JAVAN WARTY PIG Conservation and Recovery Cover Photo: Attwater’s Prairie Chicken © Stephanie Adams, Houston Zoo INTRODUCTION The 2012 Annual Report on Conservation Science Zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) serve as conservation centers that are concerned about ecosystem health, take responsibility for species survival, contribute to research, conservation, and education, and provide communities the opportunity to develop personal connections with the animals in their care. Whether breeding and reintroducing endangered species; rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing sick and injured animals; maintaining far-reaching educational and outreach programs; or supporting and conducting in-situ and ex-situ research and field conservation projects, accredited zoos and aquariums play a vital role in maintaining our planet’s diverse wildlife and natural habitats while engaging the public to appreciate and participate in conservation. The 2012 Annual Report on Conservation Science (ARCS) focuses exclusively on those conservation projects that have a direct impact on animals in the wild. The report is based on survey data submitted by 179 of AZA’s 223 accredited zoos and aquariums and 15 certified- related facilities. Each of the more than 2,700 project submissions listed in this report were reviewed by at least one member of AZA’s Field Conservation Committee (FCC) to ensure that the project met the criteria of having a direct impact on animals in the wild. Based on this survey, AZA facilities collectively spent approximately $160 million on field conservation in 2012, providing further evidence of the significant role AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums play in saving the worlds’ species. A GLOBAL EFFORT AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums served as active conservation leaders for projects in their own backyards, throughout the United States, and globally – reaching over 115 countries in 2012 alone. While most activities (~1,000) took place in the United States, facilities reported working between 50-105 times in each of the following countries: Indonesia, Kenya, China, Congo, Madagascar, and Mexico. 3 SPECIES AND HABITATS AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums supported both species-specific and habitat-focused conservation projects. Projects focused on conserving ecosystems often supported a variety of animals, while species-specific projects targeted over 650 individual species, over 200 of which are listed under the US Endangered Species Act and about 200 of which are part of an AZA Species Survival Plan® (SSP). Of the species-specific projects: • 60% focused on mammals, including cheetah, elephant, rhinoceros, chimpanzee, snow leopard, orangutan, giant panda, Grevy’s zebra, jaguar, polar bear, and okapi • 13% focused on reptiles, including sea turtles, eastern Massasauga rattlesnake, and diamondback terrapin • 13% focused on birds, including Humboldt penguin, red-necked ostrich, African penguin, California condor, and piping plover • 6% focused on amphibians, including eastern hellbender, Oregon spotted frog, Panamanian golden frog, Puerto Rican crested toad, and Wyoming toad • 4.5% focused on invertebrates, including elkhorn, staghorn, and other coral; horseshoe crabs; monarch butterfly; and Karner blue butterfly • 3.5% focused on fishes, including whale shark, blue rockfish, and California grunion The remainder of this 2012 Annual Report lists the names of all projects included in the annual survey, by institution. This report was compiled by Shelly Grow (AZA Director of Conservation Programs) with significant data entry and clean-up by AZA Conservation and Science Interns Arslan Ahmad, Kathryn Juliano, Zachary Page, Kathryn Redeen, and Vanessa Hensley. This report, along with those from previous years, is available on the AZA Website at: www.aza.org/annual-report-on-conservation-and-science/. 4 Photos © Julie Larsen–Maher, WCS BACK FROM THE BRINK Blue Iguanas By Julie Larsen-Maher Originally published in CONNECT January 2012 “This is Gorgonzola’s territory. She’s usually right around here,” is usually in the same place, easy to find and study, and has says Doug Bell, as his eyes follow a thick, dusty trail around consistently used the same soil patch to lay between five-and- a fruit tree in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Gardens on the ten eggs a year since 2003. island of Grand Cayman. Bell, who has been involved as a volunteer with the Blue I am thinking that is an interesting name for the lizard we are Iguana Recovery Program (BIRP) since 2004, is field specialist looking for – a special one – a Grand Cayman blue iguana, and all-around expert on blue iguanas. He is part of a small a reptile so rare that ten years ago, there were fewer than a staff in this bare-bones organization consisting of a director, dozen in the wild on the planet. two wardens, and various volunteers from around the globe whose mission it is to bring these reptiles back from the brink. Is it because this cerulean-sprinkled iguana looks like the blue- veined cheese? “It was a classic endangered species story,” says Fred Burton, director of the BIRP, the man who initiated their rescue and Instead, this particular female was named for her favorite continues as their champion. indulgence, the noni fruit from the tree we just passed, which has a pungent, cheese-like odor. Apparently, she got her label The largest native land animal on Grand Cayman had evolved because she enjoys this fruit so often that she has been known without worries about predators. There were no carnivorous to smell like gorgonzola. mammals. The iguanas basked on pristine beaches, and their habitat at the interior of the island was largely inhospitable to Gorgonzola is an important animal in this small group that most life, so they flourished. came so close to extinction. She was among the first captive- bred animals to be released into the park in 2001. Gorgonzola Then, the tides literally turned for the blue iguanas. BACK FROM THE BRINK 5 Once plentiful along the coast, the iguanas that preferred the shore were hunted out by early settlers. Those that remained inland faired better and were protected within the razor-sharp edges of eroded karst and thorny shrub that make up iguana paradise. Time passed, and people didn’t know much about the iguanas that shared their island, and they didn’t go looking. Then, the human population sprang up with numbers more than doubling every 12 years or so, bottlenecking the iguanas, and systematically taking over their landscape. “The environment on Grand Cayman took several million years to evolve,” says Burton, “yet a bulldozer can destroy this habitat in ten minutes.” The iguanas had no adaptation for all that came with human expansion. Big buildings, dogs, cats, insects, rodents and fast cars were all introduced to their island home. Hot asphalt highways that webbed through their land made good basking spots for the heat-loving reptiles, and many became victims of road kill. These roads, and then hotels, covered the iguanas’ nesting sites. Non-native fire ants and rats attacked the iguanas’ nests and destroyed their eggs. Young iguanas were picked off by feral cats. Dogs killed adult iguanas. Ultimately, blue iguana numbers plummeted. for a precious few “founders” (genetically unrelated animals In the 1990s, by some counts, there were hundreds in the with roots from wild populations) and a tiny captive breeding wild, but by 2002, it seemed fewer than a dozen iguanas had program began. endured. Blue iguanas are slow breeders and not the most prolific of “Iguanas are survivors. They are smart, but they have had to reptilian egg layers at one clutch per year of 10-to-20 at the learn by experience,” says Burton. height of a female’s maturity. I watched with fascination as an iguana nest was excavated at the breeding center, each egg Bringing back an iguana population would take the right so rare and precious, it was as if we had discovered those laid animals and healthy ones. Burton and his team put forth an by a dinosaur. The roundish, leathery eggs, a little larger than a epic effort to save those that remained. chicken’s, go to Burton’s home for 70 days in an incubator in a climate-controlled room that doubles as his office. “Blue iguanas were impossibly The new hatchlings are then moved to the breeding facility at the QE II Botanic Garden, and after a two-year head start, the young iguanas are big enough to hold their own against rare,” says Burton, “so rare that predators and are ready for their release to the wilds of the we couldn’t learn about them island. to try to save them.” “Now that we have an established population back in the wild and can finally study how the iguanas live in their natural environment, we are better able to understand their needs as well as the pressures on the population,” says Bell. “Blue iguanas were impossibly rare,” says Burton, “so rare that we couldn’t learn about them to try to save them. There was Starting in 2001, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) health a sheer lack of information. How many were left? Where were experts, including veterinarians and technicians, partnered with they? What were their conservation problems?” BIRP to ensure that the two-year-old iguanas were in top form before their release. Dr. Paul Calle, Dr. Bonnie Raphael, and The BIRP watched wild iguanas on the east end of the island various members of their staff took turns working on location to learn what they could of their behaviors in the wild and then in Grand Cayman where they set up protocols and performed determine the iguanas’ needs for space and survival.