TAG reports 2015 TAG REPORTS 2015 EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIA TAG reports 2015 INTRODUCTION EAZA’s Taxon Advisory Groups (TAG) range from Amphibians to Cattle and Camelids, from Hornbills to Old World Monkeys and many more. TAGs define the exex situ situ management management level level a aspecies species requires, requires, which might be low, medium or high. Within the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) these levels are defined as Monitor Programmes, European Studbooks (ESB) or European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP). At the end of 2015 EAZA had 39 TAGs, 199 EEPs and 201 ESBs. A milestone: 400 official EAZA breeding programmes (EEPs and ESBs), 30 years after the establishment of the first EEPs in 1985! Each TAG develops and oversees the implementation of a Regional Collection Plan (RCP), in which the management level of species is outlined. The RCP is a living document, continually under revision due to shifts in both ex situ andand inin situsitu population population management. management. RCPs RCPs should be used as the base for Institutional Collection Plans, so that institutions obtain animals that have the highest priority of being held within the EAZA community. The TAG also oversees and helps to develop EAZA Best Practice Guidelines that reflect the best practice management of the respective taxa. The TAG itself is led by a TAG Chair who is assisted by one or more TAG Vice-chairs, depending on the number of species covered by the group. Within the remit of the TAG also lie the EEPs, ESBs and Monitor Programmes and the TAG encourages involvement of representatives from across the EAZA community. Most TAGs are assisted by internal and external advisors regarding specific topics, such as veterinary or research matters for instance. Additionally EAZA’s EEP Committee guides the TAGs in decision making processes, such as approving the nomination of new breeding programme managers and non-EAZA institutions to participate in EEPs. Together the EAZA’s TAGs cover all groups of animals held by EAZA collections. A TAG meeting is held at least once per year, which brings breeding programme managers, other experts and interested parties together. To ensure the quality of intensively managed populations, the TAGs evaluate their EEPs every five years. As always,always that TAGs TAGs have have worked worked on a on wide a wide range range of activities of activities in 2015. in 2015. The Thefirst first few fewTAGs TAGs have havenow nowgone throughgone through the newly the newly released released TAG evaluation TAG evaluation process process which which helps helpsdemonstrate demonstrate what goeswhat wellgoes and well whereand where programmes programmes and alland colleagues all colleagues involved involved in the in TAG the TAGwork work can improvecan improve even even more. more. The TAGThe TAG Chairschairs andand membersmembers havehave contributedcontributed toto thethe developmentdevelopment ofof thethe newnew EAZAEAZA breedingbreeding programmeprogramme structure sharing comments on the proposals and actively contributing to a successful series of discussions organised during the EAZA Annual Conference in Wrocław, Poland. A detailed overview of the activities of each of the TAGs can be found in this TAG Annual Report. If you wish to receive more information on any of the topics raised, please contact the EAZA Executive OfficeIf you wish via [email protected]. receive more informationEAZA extends on its any thanks of the all topics the Chairs, raised, pleasemembers contact and breeding the EAZA programme Executive coordinatorsOffice via [email protected]. for their hard workEAZA inextends 2015. its thanks all the Chairs, members and breeding programme coordinators for their hard work in 2015. Cover image: ???????????????Black-crested mangabey (Lophocebus aterrimus) © GaiaZOO TAG reports 2015 TERRESTRIAL INVERTEBRATE TAG Chair: Mark Bushell (Bristol Zoo Gardens, United Kingdom) TAG Vice-chair: Tamás Papp (Budapest Zoo, Hungary) The TAG structure was slightly changed in 2015, with Mark Bushell being appointed as TAG Chair with Tamás Papp in support. A second Vice-chair is being recruited in 2016. Only one meeting was held in 2015. The first EAZA Terrestrial Invertebrate TAG (TITAG) symposium was held at Artis Royal Zoo in August this year, with over thirty attendees LORD HOWE ISLAND STICK INSECT AT BRISTOL ZOO GARDENS © MARK BUSHELL including representatives from New Zealand, the United States of America and Costa Rica. Subjects covered included Endangered species of grasshopper endemic to the south of butterfly conservation in the Netherlands and America, the France. Some eggs have already been returned to the wild and husbandry of dragon-headed katydids and the latest efforts of research is being performed on ex situ incubation methods, weta conservation in New Zealand. The TITAG plans to have with plans to include other European collections in the captive a meeting at the 2016 EAZA Annual Conference being held in breeding programme in the next couple of years. Belfast. Discussions continue on the conservation strategy of Work continues on the Ethical Euthanasia guidelines for the Desertas wolf spider (Hogna ingens) with a meeting of Invertebrates with our veterinary advisor Mark Eichelmann interested parties scheduled in Funchal for May 2016. It is working very hard on making them as comprehensive as hoped that a ex situ population can be established before the possible. They are currently under review and we hope to close of 2016, with several EAZA collections interested in have them published officially in 2016. participating in the proposed conservation programme. A new version of the Regional Collection Plan continues A new ESB was formed for Gooty ornamental spiders to be updated as a living document and a new version was (Poecilotheria metallica) which is held at Bristol Zoo Gardens published in early 2015. With so many species of invertebrate while the evaluation process for the Partulid snail EEP was being kept in EAZA institutions it will remain a living completed this year. We are currently looking to recruit a new changeable document with regular small updates. Work has coordinator for the Fregate beetle EEP as Amanda Ferguson started on identifying key Best Practice Guidelines to produce (ZSL London Zoo) is stepping down from the role after in 2016 with discussions on collaboration between colleagues several years of excellent work with the programme. in relevant TAGs and Working Groups in AZA and BIAZA 2015 saw the release of populations of Partula affinis, P. respectively. hyalina and P. nodosa back to Tahiti as part of the action November 2015 saw the start of a European population of the plan of this flagship invertebrate conservation programme. Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) at Bristol Snails were taken from collections within the EEP in Europe Zoo Gardens as part of an attempt to start a global breeding and also from the SSP in the United States of America programme for the species, with colonies also being established and assembled at ZSL London Zoo for quarantine and at San Diego Zoo and Toronto Zoo. The formation of an EEP is screening before their long journey to Tahiti where they being discussed to link populations with the proposed Species were received by colleagues from ZSL London Zoo and Survival Plan within the AZA TITAG, hopefully leading to a Auckland Zoo, plus field biologist Trevor Coote and Global Species Management Plan in the future. representatives from the French Polynesian government. Ex situ breeding of the Crau Steppe grasshopper This is the first step before future repatriations to Raiatea, (Prionotropis rhodanica) was achieved at Thoiry Zoo, Moorea and Huahine in the next few years as the action with over 200 egg-pods being produced of this Critically plan for Partulid snails starts to reach its end point of 2018. 3 TAG reports 2015 FISH AND AQUATIC INVERTEBRATE TAG Chair: Brian Zimmerman (Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom) TAG Co-chairs: Max Janse (Burgers’ Zoo, The Netherlands, Elasmobranchs); Anton Weissenbacher (Zoo Vienna, Austria, Freshwater teleosts); Daniel Abed-Navandi (Haus des Meeres, Austria, Marine teleosts) ARAPAIMA Two Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate TAG (FAITAG) meetings were conducted in 2015, the first at the EAZA Annual One application for a new ESB on Rhinoptera bonasus has Meeting in Wrocław Zoo, Wrocław, Poland and the second not been approved by EAZA. It was decided to change the at the EUAC meeting in Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain. The management of this species towards a monitoring level. meeting in Wrocław was attended by mostly zoo colleagues Until the next meeting in Lisbon, the RCP species should since aquarium curators tend to choose EUAC as their be identified from all selected freshwater fish families. main annual meeting. Therefore discussions in Wrocław Subsequently, activities and procedures should be assigned included exploring ways of better integration between the two to all the selected species. A preferable situation and/or meetings and promoting greater participation, particularly in designated goal is to establish and start off a conservation areas where overlapping opportunities exist. An extremely project with ex and in situ activities for at least one species. relevant presentation was given by Kristine Schad of EAZA A MON-P for Arapaima sp. is planned. Although the on population management for group-managed species, species cannot be bred under aquarium conditions, it should, and Toni Weissenbacher presented the latest developments due to its charismatic character, become part of a monitoring on the Freshwater fish RCP. Brian Zimmerman gave an project. In molecular-biological investigations it became Elasmobranch TAG update on behalf of Max Janse. apparent that the species known as Arapaima gigas comprises At the EUAC meeting in Tenerife the FAITAG session a species complex of at least four valid species. According to was attended by more of the TAG participants and brief this information it is unclear what and how many species live updates were given from each of the attending ESB keepers in our facilities.