With so many of the world’s wild bird species facing an uncertain future, co-ordinating captive populations becomes a critical task – and at the centre of one such effort is C&AB columnist CHRIS GREEN, who maintains the European studbook for a rather special species from China.
SOFTBILLS
THE Mount Omei babbler (Liocichla omeiensis), also known as Emei Shan liocichla, is endemic to China with a restricted distribution. On IUCN’s Red List it is classed as Vulnerable. The European Studbook (ESB), which was approved in July 2005, subsumed a Joint Management of Species Plan (JMSP) studbook. The latter had been founded in 1998 to safeguard the captive population of this species, which had a short history in British zoos and, without further co-operation, a short future. A large number of non-European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) institutional and other non-institutional participants were vital when sourcing birds initially, and many UK-based private aviculturists are still co-operating with the studbook today.
The Mount Omei babbler ESB was handed to Cotswold Wildlife Park in October 2014 when I took it over from Nigel Hewston. At that time, 11 zoo/ bird-park collections and three private collections were working with the species; now it’s 20 and seven. I hope that will continue to increase – after I have managed to master the new Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) program (a special software package for managing studbooks).
この記事は Cage & Aviary Birds の March 14, 2018 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Cage & Aviary Birds の March 14, 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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