The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) population is decreasing, with less than 10,000 individuals in the wild because of habitat destruction, fragmentation, and illegal hunting. Captive breeding has become an increasingly crucial strategy for conserving endangered species, but efforts to generate self-sustaining populations have failed despite ample resources being allocated. Animals are often stress...

Although play behavior is difficult to define, it has been abundantly documented in the cetacean literature. Play behavior is prevalent among the various taxa and is exhibited by individuals of all age classes. However, it is often difficult to follow individuals, observe underwater behavior, and obtain multiple sightings of individuals when investigating free-ranging populations. Captive studi...

Proper feeding management of wild animals in captivity incorporates both husbandry skills and applied nutritional sciences. As a basic foundation of animal management, nutrition is integral to longevity, disease prevention, growth and reproduction, yet has received insufficient focus in the zoological community, although somewhat more detailed attention has been paid to free-ranging wildlife, p...

This article attempts to determine the effects of environment (captive or wild) and a simple form of environmental enrichment on the behavior and physiology of a nonhuman animal. Specifically, analyses first compared behavioral budgets and stereotypic behavior of captive coyotes (Canis latrans) in kennels and pens to their counterparts in the wild. Second, experiments examined the effect of a s...

A recent study showed that the frequency of an antiretroviral factor TRIM5 gene-derived isoform, TRIMCyp, in cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) varies widely according to the particular habitat examined. However, whether the findings actually reflect the prevalence of TRIMCyp in wild cynomolgus macaques is still uncertain because the previous data were obtained with captive monkeys in br...

Abstract The Chiricahua leopard frog ( Lithobates chiricahuensis ) is a threatened species endemic to the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Captive breeding programs were established support reintroduction efforts, yet reproductive output has been lower than needed for recovery of species. This study aimed evaluate effects captivity on amphibian reproduction by (1) determining if ...

The frequency of anointing bouts and the materials used for self- and social anointing vary across capuchin species in captivity, but there is little published data on capuchin anointing in the wild. Here we present previously unpublished data on anointing behaviors from capuchin monkey populations at ten different field sites and incorporate these data into a review of the anointing literature...

that the paying customers make a contribution to the conservation of the species. A recent research paper shows, however, that the process has not led to any successful re-integration of lions into the wild, because captivebred lions and their offspring are ill-suited for survival compared with their wild-born peers (Oryx (2012) doi:10.1017/S0030605312000695). “The simple fact is, ‘lion encount...