Desafios na conservação de vida selvagem: perspectivas presentes e futuras
Songsasen, Nucharin
The global environment is under increasing pressure from expanding human activities and climate changes. The change in global environment, including increase environmental temperature, marine pollution, ocean acidification among others, has resulted in significant loss in biodiversity. To dates, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has estimated that 41% of amphibians, 33% of corals, 26% of mammals and 13% of birds are threatened by extinction (International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN, 2015). Imminent extinction of wild species is often caused by multiple factors and may not always be due to failure of animals to breed. Nevertheless, reproductive sciences play critical roles in wildlife conservation, especially captive breeding program. A clear example of how reproductive biology contributes to species recovery program is the case of black footed ferret (Howard et al., 2003; Santymire et al., 2014), endemic to North America. In 1980s, the species underwent severe population decline with only 18 individuals remained in the wild which were brought into captivity. To-date, >150 ferret kits have been produced by artificial insemination (AI), including offspring produced from frozen founder sperm stored for as long as 20 years. Since the inception of the captive breeding program, 8,000 black footed ferrets have been produced, half of which have been reintroduced into 20 sites in eight US States, Canada and Mexico.(AU)
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