Evolutionary Basis
What is fitness?
Once seen in flocks of millions that darkened the skies, this bird was hunted to extinction.
What is the Passenger Pigeon?
When all else fails, you'll need a little of this to create a successful breeding program.
What is luck?
This species, found on the WWF logo, had its status upgraded from "threatened" to "vulnerable" in 2016 following captive breeding and conservation efforts.
What is the Giant Panda?
This mechanism of evolution is altered or removed in a captive environment where there are no survival pressures.
What is natural selection?
This duck's unfortunate claim to fame is being known as the first bird species endemic to North America to go extinct following the Columbian Exchange.
What is the Labrador Duck?
To avoid species evolving to adapt to a captive environment, you should limit this as much as possible.
What is time spent in captivity?
This small but fierce predator was declared extinct not once, but twice!
What is the Black-footed Ferret?
This has been the fate of over 99% of species in Earth's history.
What is extinction?
This flightless bird was in the same family as penguins and puffins, but has been extinct since 1844.
What is the Great Auk?
This question should be considered before starting a captive breeding program, lest your animals die as soon as they are released.
What is the cause of extinction?
This can occur rapidly in captive breeding programs, as evidenced by the facility that bred Mallorcan Midwife Toads.
What is the spread of disease?
This important source of genetic variation usually happens when individuals from different wild populations interbreed. Scientists can carefully mimic this in captivity by exchanging breeding stock between facilities.
What is migration, or gene flow?
This fish lived in deep water in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, but succumbed to the commercial fishing and invasive species in the mid-1900's.
What is the Deepwater Cisco?
Starting with many individuals and mixing wild and captive populations will help to maintain this.
What is genetic diversity?
An increasingly common sight in the USA and Mexico, California Condors would not have recovered without the banning of this.
What is lead-based ammunition?
This occurs when two populations are separated and can't interbreed. In captivity, this can result in the captive-bred population being unable to interbreed with the wild population upon release.
What is reproductive isolation?
This tiny blue butterfly is not yet extinct, but it has been extirpated in Canada since 2009. It lived in Ontario, but loss of wild lupines has left it without suitable habitat.
What is the Karner Blue?
Captive breeding should only be one portion of this plan for an endangered species.
What is a comprehensive recovery strategy?
These facilities are meant to improve fish stocks, but they may actually be harming wild populations.
What are salmon hatcheries?