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Ex situ conservation of the Hispaniolan Solenodon

Discussion in 'Wildlife & Nature Conservation' started by Onychorhynchus coronatus, 26 Oct 2019.

  1. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    30 Sep 2019
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    Brazil
    Having followed fairly closely the studies done by ZSL and EDGE in the Dominican Republic and Haiti for over a decade it has always puzzled me as to why so few solenodons have been brought into zoos for ex-situ captive breeding purposes. Afterall , these are evolutionarily distinct mammals, of scientific interest as "living fossils", and to top it all the solenodon is an endangered species that exists in a precarious biogeographic state.

    One of the components and recommendations of the action plan as stated in the Darwin Initiative report (Young, et al., 2013) and several other reports back in the early 1990's has been to set up an ex-situ breeding programe for the species. This was to be preferably located within the country of origin (This apparently has been achieved at Zoodom) but also presumably could include establishing captive populations in zoos abroad.

    I know that the species is currently being kept along with a few other endemic mammals in the National zoo "Zoodom" in Santo Domingo , however, it doesn't appear (at least from the information available) that there have been any further efforts to establish other breeding programes.

    I can't help wondering why this hasn't materialised and just what the barriers to doing this might be and I thought it might make for an interesting discussion thread.
     
    Last edited: 26 Oct 2019