Pending changes in European legislation ban the use of wild-caught animals in research. This change is partly justified on the assumption that captive-breeding (or hand-rearing) increases welfare of captive animals because these practices result in animals with reduced fear of humans. However, there are few actual data on the long-term behavioural effects of captive-breeding in non-domestic spe...

AasTaAcT. -Food consumption, energy metabolism, and growth of 12 wild Golden Eagle (Aquilu chrysaetos) chicks were compared with 4 captive chicks to evaluate the influence of food availability and sibling interaction on growth in wild nestlings. Captive female and male eaglets consumed and assimilated similar amounts of black-tailed jack rabbit (Lepus calijbrnicus). A linear relationship betwee...

Captive breeding programs are widely used for the conservation and restoration of threatened and endangered species. Nevertheless, captive-born individuals frequently have reduced fitness when reintroduced into the wild. The mechanism for these fitness declines has remained elusive, but hypotheses include environmental effects of captive rearing, inbreeding among close relatives, relaxed natura...

As many studies of cognition and behavior involve captive animals, assessing any psychological impact of captive conditions is an important goal for comparative researchers. Ferdowsian and colleagues (2011) sought to address whether captive chimpanzees show elevated signs of psychopathology relative to wild apes. They modified a checklist of diagnostic criteria for major depression and posttrau...

Captive-breeding programs have been widely used in the conservation of imperiled species, but the effects of inbreeding, frequently expressed in traits related to fitness, are nearly unavoidable in small populations with few founders. Following its planned extirpation in the wild, the endangered red wolf (Canis rufus) was preserved in captivity with just 14 founders. In this study, we evaluated...

—The use of captive animals for population re-establishment or augmentation can be an important part of conservation efforts, but practitioners need experimentally derived evidence to guide the best strategies and inform whether such practices could be successful. Here, we examined how several manipulations to captive-rearing practices influence the performance of the Common Watersnake, Nerodia...

The Asian giant river toad Phrynoidis asper is a large species of bufonid from south-east Asia that apparently obtained by the international exotic-pet trade wild populations. Captive breeding this seems not to have been documented. donation Chester Zoo in October 2021 an adult group five males and one female provided opportunity study captive breeding. specimens were maintained separated sex u...

Given the drawbacks of hand-rearing nonhuman animals in captivity, the practice is generally avoided, but it is sometimes necessary. A few scientific publications are available to guide managers toward best practices in hand-rearing, but the majority of articles focus on hand-rearing captive primates. Less is known about hand-rearing carnivores, but early socialization appears to be critical fo...

The greater amberjack Seriola dumerili is a large teleost fish with rapid growth and excellent flesh quality, whose domestication represents an ambitious challenge for aquaculture. The occurrence of reproductive dysfunctions in greater amberjack reared in captivity was investigated by comparing reproductive development of wild and captive-reared individuals. Wild and captive-reared breeders wer...