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Animal balance 1/2023 – into a new phase

Animal balance 1/2023 – into a new phase

May 22nd is the International Day of Biodiversity – and for Citizen Conservation the occasion to present the balance of our contribution to its preservation. And the results are impressive! 

Set goals … 

The goals CC sets for its conservation breeding programs are not arbitrary, but have been determined using science-based population management tools. The goal is to establish populations in which the genetic diversity of the source animals is largely maintained over a 40-year period. To achieve this, we need a certain number of holdings and animals per species. 

… come within reach 

In the meantime, we have come very close to achieving these goals for the first species. For the Vietnamese crocodile newt, for example, we already have enough animals in our program thanks to good breeding success. Now we only need four more keepers to reach the required number of 30. This should still be possible this year. After that we can focus our efforts on the second species of the genus in our program: Ziegler’s crocodile newt.   
 
The situation is similar for the Mangarahara cichlid, one of the rarest fish in the world, which may have already been extirpated in the wild. According to our calculations, to keep this species stable over 40 years, we need 16 husbandries with a total of 192 animals – 12 husbandries are already in place, and here too good breeding successes have ensured sufficient individuals. First successes with our two other species of Malagasy cichlids let us look optimistically into the future also for them.  

 

Successes and efforts 

Pátzcuaro’s cross-toothed newt, Majorca’s midwife toad and Chinese fire-bellied toad are also reproducing very successfully among CC participants. Lemur tree frog and bone-headed toad, on the other hand, are causing more trouble than originally thought. But even with these species, the knot will hopefully be broken.   
 For the fire salamanders, poison dart frogs, Titicaca giant frogs, Anderson’s cross-toothed newts, and Madagascar spadefoot, it is too early to make any statements, as these programs are just beginning

 

To new shores 

However, “target number reacheddoes not mean that we can sit back with satisfaction. For some species, we have initially only been able to draw on an extremely narrow genetic range in the initial animalssometimes only on the offspring of individual pairs or siblings. Here, we hope to be able to obtain more foundation animals in the long term. In any case, the necessary infrastructure for long-term conservation breeding is already in place, in accordance with our guiding principle: build capacity 
 We are also preparing to add a number of other amphibian, fish and, for the first time, reptile species. At the next balance at the end of November some new names will already be found on our species tablebe curious!  

Semi-Annual Report May 2023

Scientific name
Engl. name
Animals
total (m/f/u)
Keepers
total
Deaths
11/22 – 04/23
(m/f/u)
News offspring
11/22 – 04/23
(m/f/u)
External
arrivals
11/22 – 04/23
(m/f/u)
Aim
(animals,
keepers)
status*
Amphibians
Agalychnis
lemur
Lemur Leaf Frog
44 (15/12/17)
7
8 (0/0/8)
0
0
225, 40
19%
Alytes
muletensis
Majorcan
Midwife Toad
326 (7/10/309)
27
12 (0,0,12)
125
0
425, 53
64%
Ambystoma
andersoni
Anderson’s
Salamander
76 (27/25/24)
7
11 (0/3/8)
0
3
225,40
26%
Ambystoma
dumerilii
Lake Pátzcuaro-
Salamander
238 (58/45/132)
21
6 (0,4,2)
125
0
225, 40
76%
Bombina
orientalis
Oriental fire-
bellied Toad
193 (30/20/143)
16
26 (14,2,10)
3
16
225, 60
56%
Ingerophrynus galeatus
Bony-headed
Toad
46 (16/14/16)
10
28 (3,4,21)
0
0
225, 40
23%
Minyobates steyermarki
Demonic Poison frog
15 (3/0/12)
3
0
0
15
110, 20
14%
Phyllobates terribilis
Golden Poison
Frog
17 (8/2/7)
3
5 (0,5,0)
0
6
225, 70
6%
Salamandra sal. almanzoris
Almanzor Fire
Salamander
24 (17/7/0)
7
2 (1,1,0)
0
185, 30
18%
Salamandra salamandra (D)
Fire Salamander
85 (11/11/63)
11
3 (0,0,3)
0
5
**
**
Telmatobius
culeus
Titicaca-
Water Frog
36 (6/6/24)
6
0
0
0
225,45
15%
Tylototriton vietnamensis
Vietnamese
Crocodile Newt
193 (30/38/125)
26
14 (1,0,13)
63
14
185, 30
93%
Tylototriton
ziegleri
Ziegler’s
Crocodile Newt
28 (0/1/27)
7
3 (1,0,2)
0
6
185,30
19%
Fish
Bedotia madagascariensis
Madagascan-
Raimnbow Fish
108 (19/5/84)
8
22 (1,1,20)
0
65
192, 16
53%
Ptychochromis insolitus
Mangarahara-
Cichlid
277 (23/25/229)
12
17
55
100
192, 16
88%
Ptychochromis loisellei
Loiselle’s
Cichlid
197 (19/14/164)
9
1 (0/1/0)
120
19
160, 16
78%
Ptychochromis oligacanthus
Nosy Be
Cichlid
56 (6/4/46)
3
0
0
12
192,16
24%

m: Männchen, w: Weibchen, u: unbestimmtes Geschlecht
*Status = Mittelwert aus bereits erreichtem Prozentsatz der anvisierten Halterzahl und des als Ziel bestimmten Tierbestands
**: Beim einheimischen Feuersalamander ist es ein Ziel, verschiedene Lokalpopulationen zu erhalten; es gibt daher keine Zielvorgabe für die Art