WCS Annual Report 2012 - Wildlife Conservation Society

wcs story
harnessing the power of our zoos/aquarium
and field conservation
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IN 2012, WE CONTINUED TO USE OUR ZOO- AND AQUARIUM-BASED HUSBANDRY EXPERTISE TO
PROTECT A VARIETY OF SPECIES, FROM INDONESIA’S RARE MALEO BIRD TO TANZANIA’S KIHANSI
SPRAY TOAD — RETURNED TO ITS FORMER HABITAT AFTER GOING EXTINCT IN THE WILD. IN
MOZAMBIQUE WE WORKED TO ESTABLISH A NEW RESERVE TO ADDRESS THE ONGOING CRISIS OF
ELEPHANT POACHING, WHILE IN ARcTIC ALASKA OUR DATA HELPED TO STRIKE THE RIGHT BALANCE
BETWEEN WILDLIFE PROTECTION AND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT. THESE AND OTHER STORIES DOCU-
MENTED HERE CAPTURE AN ORGANIZATION EVER STRIVING TO FULFILL ITS MISSION TO PROTECT
WILDLIFE AND WILD PLACES.
Combining Zoo and Field Expertise to
Save Species
The reintroduction of some 2,000 spray toads to Tanzania’s Kihansi
Gorge marked a major milestone for this tiny species. The repatriation
effort was the result of a 12-year partnership between WCS’s Bronx
Zoo, the Toledo Zoo, the government of Tanzania, and the World
Bank after the toads’ misty habitat adjacent to a waterfall was
disrupted by the construction of a new hydroelectric dam. The
toads were bred at the Bronx and Toledo Zoos while their habitat was
restored with an artificial misting system. In October, representatives
of organizations partnering in the Kihansi project gathered with local
village members to release the toads back into their native landscape.
The exact time for this historical event: 2 P.M., October 30, 2012.
Three maleo chicks hatched at the Bronx Zoo after a roughly
two-month-long incubation period. Adult maleos can be seen in
the zoo’s World of Birds – the only place these unusual birds can
be found outside of their native home of Sulawesi, an island in
Indonesia. Maleos are members of the megapode family, almost
half of whose species are threatened with extinction. Maleo
numbers in the wild have declined drastically due to human egg
collection and predation by invasive species. Knowledge gained
at the Bronx Zoo regarding maleo incubation and chick survival
has been used by WCS field staff in Sulawesi to hatch and head
start chicks before returning them to the wild.
WCS’s work to produce pure bison calves resulted from a
recognition that the vast majority of present-day bison have traces
of domestic cattle genes. The genes entered bison populations early
in the 1900s as a result of interbreeding efforts when western
ranchers tried to create a hardier breed of cattle. Unfortunately,
the interbreeding resulted in bison that lack some of the very
qualities that helped the species to survive for thousands of years
in the harsh climate of North America’s Western prairies. In the
fall of 2011, WCS arranged for a group of female bison to be implanted
with genetically pure bison embryos. The result was the
first-ever genetically pure bison calf produced by embryo transfer.
Saving the World’s Most Endangered Turtles
and Tortoises
In 2012, WCS announced a new strategy to take direct responsibility
for the continued survival of some of the world’s most endangered
tortoises and freshwater turtles. WCS will breed several species
in captivity with the goal of returning them to the wild. WCS
captive collections will further serve as assurance colonies in the
event that populations in the wild go extinct. Such colonies are
designed to preserve the genetic variation of wild populations.
More than half of the world’s approximately 330 species of
freshwater turtles and tortoises are threatened with extinction
due to both legal and illegal exploitation, as well as habitat loss.
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