Conservation in action
Conservation
Breeding Programmes- Key Info
- What we’re doing
- What you can do
Conservation in action
Breeding Programmes
Dublin Zoo takes part in breeding programmes for over 35 species. This means that animals from different zoos are matched up with the most suitable partners to ensure that they have the healthiest young possible.
As well as pairing animals, breeding programmes also require zoos to record important genetic, dietary and behavioural information which help us understand more about these species and in turn, aid their future survival both in zoos and in the wild.
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Breeding Programmes
Dublin Zoo takes part in breeding programmes for over 35 species. This means that animals from different zoos are matched up with the most suitable partners to ensure that they have the healthiest young possible.
As well as pairing animals, breeding programmes also require zoos to record important genetic, dietary and behavioural information which help us understand more about these species and in turn, aid their future survival both in zoos and in the wild.
EAZA Breeding Programmes
As part of Dublin Zoo’s membership of EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria), we participate in over 35 breeding programmes. By running these breeding programmes, EAZA can monitor the age structure and genetics of animal populations in over 300 zoos in almost 50 countries.
The success of a number of these programmes has meant that zoo-bred animals have been reintroduced into the wild, such as the scimitar-horned oryx and golden lion tamarin.
These zoo populations have also yielded a lot of valuable information on diet, reproduction and behaviour through zoo-based research. This zoo-based research has helped inform researchers working with these species in the wild.
What is EAZA?
Studbook Keeping
A studbook keeper is the name given to the person that manages the information on a particular species in a breeding programme and ultimately decides with the help of genetic data, which animals they think would make a good pair. For example, if they were the citron-crested cockatoo studbook keeper for Europe, they would analyse the data collected from each cockatoo across all European zoos and then make an informed decision as to which cockatoos would make a good breeding pair.
Dublin Zoo currently coordinates three European breeding programmes:
- Citron-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea citroncristata)
- Goeldi’s monkey (Callimico goeldii)
- Moluccan cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis)
