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What breeding techniques does science use to preserve the Endangered Species? He always does? Or, with some exceptions, are the ideal conditions simply created to promote population growth?
There are many factors that must be taken into account to answer. Basically, it depends on each case. Among other variables, it has to do with budgets, politics, interest in the species, seriousness of the situation and / or viability of the different possibilities offered by science.
Sometimes, it is not acted, directly. In this post, therefore, we focus on the endangered species that arouse interest, since there are many that do not, and we will give a quick review of the main scientific techniques.
Without a doubt, the best way to increase the population is to avoid its loss. Not due to natural causes, what a doubt, but preventing or emending problems such as the loss of habitat, its deterioration or, for example, hunting.
Natural reserves
Science, in these cases, has nothing to do with the laboratory nor the zoos. You can provide ingenious solutions such as helping to create underpasses or bridges so that animals can reproduce more easily.
These passageways or corridors, for example, have been implemented to allow amphibians to cross safely, under roads. Its design requires a deep knowledge of one or other species.
Also, for example, you can carry out a migration so that the animals are in a more conducive environment or study what are the problems of certain species when it comes to having a suitable habitat.
Proposing solutions and carrying them out through active policies can also recover to the species. Indirectly, avoiding their stress, providing them with a favorable habitat and looking out for their well-being, higher rates of survival and reproduction are achieved.
Consanguineous reproduction
However, the conservation of species very often depends on the techniques of applied reproduction. Since the environmental conditions very they are often difficultIf not impossible to improve, the viability of the species may come to depend on these.
Consanguineous reproduction is an example of reproduction that may represent the only option (they are usually cases of serious danger of extinction, as is the case with Sumatran rhinos) or avoided, although the reproduction between animals not consanguineous. That is, they do not have similar genetic information by descent.
On the other hand, if it is not carried out respecting the species and subspecies, artificial varieties end up being created in captivity. This problem is important, for example, among tigers in zoos.
If we want to preserve a species, it is of little use to make these crosses, little less than experiments, nor is it interesting to resort to inbreeding, with the consequent risk of abnormalities and the perpetuation of defects.
If on the one hand the inbreeding reproduction It may be due to an attempt by a certain zoo to have attractive animals, on the other hand it does a disservice when it comes to conserving the species. And, likewise, in this type of practice a consanguineous reproduction can also occur.
Indeed, the subspecies reproduction Nor can it be considered valuable in saving the species. Although the genetic and morphological difference may be minimal, the foundations for the conservation of the species or subspecies in question are not being laid.
That does not justify, of course, behaviors like that of the zoo from Copenhagen, where they usually kill healthy animals that are not interesting for the reproduction of the species. The case of Marius, a completely healthy 18-month-old giraffe, who ended up being grazed by lions to avoid consanguinity, was notorious, refusing to accept offers from other centers to take him in. Soon after, they too ended up running the same fate in favor of a new lineage that was on the way.
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination is often used as reproductive technique successfully to increase the population within captive breeding campaigns and subsequent reintroduction into the wild.
The case of the giant panda. Since they are animals with reproductive problems, artificial insemination is invaluable in achieving more births. Otherwise, the critical situation of the species and weak fertility would quickly lead to certain extinction.
Cloning
Dolly the sheep was not the first cloned animal, but an amphibian in the 70s, but there is no doubt that it is considered the symbol of cloning. Regardless, this technique of reproduction based on the DNA It was a step forward for science not without controversy, even today.
Today, numerous laboratories are working on the conservation of threatened species through genetic engineering. Especially since the 1990s, the idea of conserving genetic material from Endangered Species and since then constant scientific advances have been made.
They do not get to clone dinosaurs, as they did in Jurassik Park, but interesting steps are taken, such as creating a mammoth taking advantage of the important genetic similarities with the elephant.
Finally, with the aim of conserving the genetic diversity of species, the Buenos Aires Zoo created the first bank of genetic material from threatened species. In it, samples of different types of genetic material are kept. Among other biomaterials, eggs and sperm, organ tissues or cells from a myriad of endangered species are stored.
If you want to read more articles similar to How Science Helps Endangered SpeciesWe recommend that you enter our category of Endangered Animals.
