In the past four years, there have been several attempts to apply studies of animal behaviour to conservation. Knowledge of individuals' behaviour has the potential to alter understanding of how populations fare in fragmented habitats, the responses of populations to exploitation and disturbance, disease susceptibility, effective population size, captive breeding and reintroduction efforts, and...

Abstract Supportive breeding programmes are becoming increasingly crucial for the conservation of many declining freshwater fishes such as European common nase, Chondrostoma nasus . However, small relict populations genetically highly vulnerable, and supportive can have a detrimental impact on genetic composition cultured offspring (e.g. result inbreeding, drift, adaptation to captivity). This ...

The loss of biodiversity following fragmentation and degradation of habitat is a major issue in conservation biology. As competition for resources increases following habitat loss and fragmentation, severe population declines may occur even in common, highly mobile species; such demographic decline may cause changes within the population structure of the species. The regent honeyeater, Anthocha...

Birds exhibit a remarkable diversity of different reproductive strategies both between and within species. Species such as the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) may evolve the flexible use of alternative reproductive strategies, as well as benefit from prior breeding experience, which allows them to adaptively respond to unpredictable environments. In birds, the flexible use of alternative repr...

BACKGROUND A rapid rise in the number of captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana) used in the tourism industry in southern Africa and orphaned elephants in human care has led to concerns about their long-term management, particularly males. One solution is to release them into the wild at adolescence, when young males naturally leave their herd. However, this raises significant welfare co...

Captive breeding programs are widely applied by conservation practitioners as a means of conserving, reintroducing, and supplementing populations imperilled freshwater fishes mussels. We conducted systematic map to provide an overview the existing literature on effectiveness captive release programs. A key finding is that there limited evaluation such at all three stages (i.e., broodstock colle...

Captive husbandry programs in zoos have documented nesting behavior and have successfully hatched Manouria emys emys, but data on sex determining mechanisms and sex ratios are absent. A total of 30 M. e. emys eggs were artificially incubated at five different temperatures in constant humidity. Mean incubator temperatures were 24.99°C, 25.06°C, 27.18°C, 28.00°C, and 30.79°C. Incubation duration ...

The Biodiversity Laboratories at Saint Joseph's University house more than 100 exotic and endangered animal species-including insects, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. Research in the laboratories is devoted, primarily, to understanding the genetic and ecological bases of animal behavior. In addition, a common theme of the work is the development of techniques for the successful care of exotic a...

The common shovelnose ray (Glaucostegus typus) is a poorly studied species of the Rhinobatidae family that occurs throughout the Indo-West Pacific. Although common in aquariums throughout the United States, there are currently no records of captive birth events. In 2013, a female common shovelnose ray housed at the Downtown Aquarium in Houston, Texas, USA gave birth to eleven pups. Although all...