Captive breeding is the process of breeding endangered animals by capturing them from their natural environment, breeding them in restricted conditions in zoos and other conservation facilities, and releasing them back to the wild when the population stabilizes and the threat to the animal in the wild is lessened or removed.

This technique has been used with great success for many animal species for quite a while, with probably the oldest known such instances of captive breeding being attributed to menageries of European and Asian rulers, a case in point being the Pere David's Deer. The idea was popularized among modern conservationists independently by Peter Scott and Gerald Durrell in the 1950s and 1960s, founders of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Jersey Zoo - who demonstrated considerable success with a wide variety of life forms in the 1970s ranging from birds (eg. Pink Pigeon), mammals (eg. Pigmy Hog), reptiles (eg. Round Island Boa) and amphibians (eg. Poison arrow frogs). Their ideas were independently validated by the success of Operation Oryx (under the auspices of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society), which successfully captive bred the Arabian Oryx in 1962 and reintroduced them back into Arabia.

Such techniques are usually difficult to implement for highly mobile species like some migratory birds (eg. cranes) and fishes (eg. Hilsa).

More on [ Captive breeding ]

BBC News | Science & Environment | World Edition

Moon probe returns first images
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:55:17 -0000
The US space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft sends back its first images since reaching the Moon.
No safe haven for rarest antelope
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:40:19 -0000
Hopes are dashed that some of the few remaining hirola antelope have managed to colonise new, safer territory.
New dinosaurs found in Australia
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:48:58 -0000
Three new dinosaur species are found in Queensland, Australia, and named after the Outback song Waltzing Matilda.

NYT > Environment

Green Power Takes Root in the Chinese Desert
By KEITH BRADSHER Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:36:43 -0000
Beijing is steering a push toward wind and solar power, while the U.S. is just starting.
El Niño Variant Is Linked to Hurricanes in Atlantic
By CORNELIA DEAN Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:24:59 -0000
The discovery that a periodic warming pattern in the central Pacific Ocean is linked to more frequent hurricanes in the Atlantic may help improve forecasts.
A House in the Woods, After the Woods Are Gone
By JIM ROBBINS Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:18:56 -0000
When my wife and I bought land in Montana, the stands of timber were so dense you couldn’t walk through parts of the property. Then the beetles came, killing the stately old trees.

ENN: Climate

Plant life saved Earth from an icy fate
Besides the obvious benefits they bring, it looks like we owe our very existence to plants, which helped prevent the Earth from freezing over during the past 25 million years.
US at Bottom of G8 Emissions Reduction/Climate Change Action Rankings
The US ranks next to last among G8 member countries when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and paving the way toward a clean energy economy, according to a World Wildlife Fund SE-Allianz study released July 1.
Intertropical Convergence Zone of Heavy Preciptiation Moving North
The rain band near the equator that determines the supply of freshwater to nearly a billion people throughout the tropics and subtropics has been creeping north for more than 300 years, probably because of a warmer world, according to research published in the July issue of Nature Geoscience. If the band continues to migrate at just less than a mile (1.4 kilometers) a year, which is the average for all the years it has been moving north, then some Pacific islands near the equator -- even those that currently enjoy abundant rainfall -- may be drier within decades and starved of freshwater by midcentury or sooner. The prospect of additional warming because of greenhouse gases means that situation could happen even sooner.

L.A. Times - Environment

USDA organic label comes under fire
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Lax agency standards mean that consumers aren't always buying foods without pesticides and other chemicals that were produced in environmentally friendly ways, consumer advocates and lawmakers say. Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from products carrying the federal organic label. Today those same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90% of organic baby formula.
Sheep getting smaller in Scotland due to climate change, study says
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700
The average weight and size of sheep on a remote island have been falling in small but steady increments since 1985. Milder winters mean smaller animals but a larger herd. Along with polar icecaps and sandy beaches, sheep on a remote Scottish island are gradually shrinking as a result of global warming, according to a study published today in the journal Science. The finding offers unusual proof that large animals are already evolving to adapt to changes wrought by climate change, experts said.
No homegrown seafood for this Nevada town
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Bob and Pam Eddy have fought to make a go of it selling live 'desert lobsters,' or Australian red claw crayfish. But wildlife officials have made the state even less hospitable to the crustaceans. On an overcast morning in stark western Nevada, where towns are mostly remnants of mining booms past, Pam Eddy dresses each table in her modest cafe with French mustard and fancy tomato ketchup. Coffee drip-drops, an ABBA album hums.

National Geographic News

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Ugliest Dog, "Miracle" Birth, and More
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0000
Filipino inmates dance to "Thriller," a girl rests 1,400 feet in the air, and an elderly ape has a baby in this week's best news photos.
"Diamond Dust" Snow Falls Nightly on Mars
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0000
Ice crystals drifting from Martian clouds resemble the glittering precipitation that falls in Earth's Arctic regions during winter, new data show.
Tunguksa Blast Mystery Solved by Space Shuttle?
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0000
Rare "night shining" clouds linked to the 1908 Russian event and plumes from shuttle launches suggest that the blast was caused by an icy comet, a new study says.

USDA - Natural Resources

Remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama at the U.S. Department Of Agriculture

Transcript: Secretary Tom Vilsack Hosts News Conference Call with Reporters

TRANSCRIPT: President Bush Announces Resignation of Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and Names Chuck Conner Acting Secretary of Agriculture


The Economist: The environment

Evolution and climate change: Survival of the less fit
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:53:46 -0000
The mystery of Scotland’s shrinking sheep may have been solvedON THE remote island of Hirta, in the St Kilda archipelago beyond the Outer Hebrides, live hundreds of wild Soay sheep. Over the past 20 years biologists studying this primitive breed, which has not changed much since the Bronze Age, have noticed that the sheep are getting smaller. This was a puzzle because, in general, bigger animals are usually much better at surviving the island’s extremely cold winters. The biologists now think that climate change could be involved. Tim Coulson of Imperial College, London, and his colleagues examined the weights of about 2,000 female sheep that lived on the island in the two decades of their study. They combined this information with detailed histories of individual animals. They found that daughters were, on average, lighter than their mothers had been at the same age. Their legs were shorter, too, suggesting that the breed really was shrinking. ...
Banyan: When the catfish stirs
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:54:22 -0000
Earthquakes, and the preparations for them, are metaphors for Japan’s malaiseA CAPRICIOUS, mythical catfish lies beneath the Japanese archipelago. Usually the Shinto god of the earth keeps the brute’s head pinned down with a granite keystone. But when Kashima drops his guard, the thrashings of the grotesque fish convulse the earth. Japan is extraordinarily prone to earthquakes, accounting for nearly a fifth of the world’s supply of them. No city, not even Los Angeles, surpasses Tokyo for seismic action. With tsunamis and typhoons too, an acceptance of natural disasters is said to be hard-wired into the Japanese psyche. ...
Captain Hudson’s journey: Fair to foul and back again
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:54:22 -0000
The Hudson River, 400 years onAS AMERICA celebrates its birthday on July 4th, New York is celebrating the discovery of its Hudson river. The Dutch East India Company hired Henry Hudson, an English explorer, to find a north-west passage to Asia. He failed: the route defied all explorers until Roald Amundsen in 1906. But Hudson’s journey of 1609 up the river that would later bear his name led to a valuable trade in furs and eventually to settlement by the Dutch. His shipmate recorded abundant fish and that the surrounding lands “were as pleasant with Grasse and Flowers, and goodly Trees, as euer they had seene, and very sweet smells came from them.” The smells unfortunately, have not always been so sweet. The Hudson has been exploited and abused. Factories used the river as a dumping-ground. At one time a 20-mile stretch of the Hudson had little or no aquatic life. “You could tell what colour the GM plant in Sleepy Hollow was painting its cars by the colour of the water,” recalls Alex Matthiessen, president of Riverkeeper, an environmental watchdog. Since the 1960s, groups like Riverkeeper and advocates such as Pete Seeger, a folk singer, have fought to restore the river’s ecosystem. The 1972 Clean Water Act helped deter polluters. And in 1984 the federal Environmental Protection Agency classified 200 miles of the river as a Superfund site, eligible for special attention. As a result of all this the river has begun to look like its old self. Water quality has improved. Some fish populations look healthier. The Bald Eagle once again nests nearby. ...

Reuters: Environment

Climate body to try to bridge differences before G8
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:03:25 -0400
ROME (Reuters) - Officials from a 17-member body which account for the lions share of the world's carbon emissions will hold urgent talks next Tuesday to iron out differences on the eve of a July 8-10 summit of the G8.
China mulling new air quality regulations
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:57:17 -0400
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is considering new air quality regulations as it looks to build on its success clearing Beijing's skies during the Olympics, environmental officials from the capital said on Friday.
EU seen meeting renewable fuel targets with blends
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:49:01 -0400
HAMBURG (Reuters) - The European Union is likely to achieve its target of generating 10 percent of transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020 by blending biofuels with fossil fuels, a leading EU researcher said.

NPR Topics: Environment

Can The Mississippi Delta Survive Rising Seas?
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0400
Reporting in Nature Geoscience, two coastal scientists write that rising sea levels, combined with slow Mississippi Delta growth, could drown the Louisiana coast by 2100. Delta expert Ivor van Heerden, who is not involved with the research, discusses the findings.
Politicians Reconsider Drilling Off Florida Coast
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:01:00 -0400
For years, oil production has been largely banned in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. In large part, that's because of concerns that a spill could devastate the state's tourism industry. But now, some elected officials seem willing to take another look at offshore drilling after years of opposition.
17 Miles Of Maine's Kennebec River Restored
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:20:00 -0400
It's been 10 years since the federal government ordered the Edwards Dam on Maine's Kennebec River to be torn down. Regulators had decided that the public would be better served by a free-flowing river than the tiny amount of electricity produced by the dam's hydro plant. Removing the dam has changed the environment — for the better.

UN News Centre - Environment, Shelter

High-level forum stresses need to tackle radioactive waste in Central Asia
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500
A high-level forum organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) wrapped up in Geneva today with the adoption of a joint declaration stressing the need to tackle the challenge of radioactive waste in Central Asia.
Secretary-General welcomes new UK climate change financing scheme
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the new initiative announced by the Government of the United Kingdom on financing for climate change, ahead of this December's meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, where countries are expected to wrap up negotiations on an ambitious new pact to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
Free trade can help combat global warming, finds UN report
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500
Contrary to conventional wisdom, further liberalization of international trade can help combat climate change and support a low carbon economy, said a joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Trade Organization (WTO) report launched today in Geneva.

Environment

Designing and Implementing Large Scale Energy Efficient Lighting Programs (Part 2)
B-SPAN On March 31April 2, 2009, the World Bank held Energy Week 2009 in the spirit of gathering field specialists, practitioners and policymakers to discuss energy and development issues. The conference was organized by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), The Energy and Mining Sector Board and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). The objective of this event was to enable leading energy experts to provide and exchange solutions and insights towards the current challenges in global energy issues.
Designing and Implementing Large Scale Energy Efficient Lighting Programs (Part 1)
B-SPAN On March 31April 2, 2009, the World Bank held Energy Week 2009 in the spirit of gathering field specialists, practitioners and policymakers to discuss energy and development issues. The conference was organized by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), The Energy and Mining Sector Board and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). The objective of this event was to enable leading energy experts to provide and exchange solutions and insights towards the current challenges in global energy issues.
Energy Transport Joint Plenary 1 Technology and Energy Innovations for Clean Transport
B-SPAN On March 31April 2, 2009, the World Bank held Energy Week 2009 in the spirit of gathering field specialists, practitioners and policymakers to discuss energy and development issues. The conference was organized by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), The Energy and Mining Sector Board and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). The objective of this event was to enable leading energy experts to provide and exchange solutions and insights towards the current challenges in global energy issues.

Subscribe to Environment RSS feed