Ch. 6— Maintaining Animal Diversity Offsite • 157 



ation of these breeds. Thus, the previously dis- 

 cussed technologies of disease control, artificial 

 insemination, embryo transfer, and cryopreser- 

 vation of embryos and gametes are extremely 

 important. In particular, aggressive application 

 of state-of-the-art technologies for the control 

 of disease transmission would greatly facilitate 

 use of foreign germplasm. 



Equally important, however, is the fact that 

 no organized program exists, either in the 

 United States or elsewhere, to sample, evalu- 

 ate, preserve, and use available sources of germ- 

 plasm (3). Current research organizations do 

 not have the resources to evaluate the many 

 unique breeds that exist worldwide. Evalua- 

 tions of animal germplasm could, however, fo- 

 cus on the present and foreseeable U.S. and 

 world animal production and marketing envi- 

 ronments and on the breeds that seem to have 

 the greatest potential for improving animal food 

 and fiber production systems (3). 



For wild species, programs of development 

 and utilization are much less clear. The ration- 

 ale for preservation of such species largely re- 

 flects the need to maintain the Earth's ecologi- 

 cal structure and, to many individuals, 

 utilization of wild species is inconsistent with 

 this goal. Yet products and processes observed 

 in wild species have been and will continue to 

 be of value to society. Armadillos, for exam- 

 ple, provide a unique model of human leprosy. 

 As the understanding of molecular genetics and 



cellular biology expands, the unique physiolog- 

 ical and metabolic processes found in many 

 wild animals are likely to have progressively 

 more important research and development ap- 

 plications. 



The domestication of wild animals is an emo- 

 tional issue. It implies imposition of human con- 

 trol of the mating and husbandry of a previ- 

 ously wild species. To many people, this step 

 is also inconsistent with the preservation of eco- 

 logical diversity. However, the potential gains 

 from developing adapted populations of pre- 

 viously wild animals to produce food and fi- 

 ber in harsh or severely restricted environments 

 may be too great to ignore. Thus, populations 

 of red deer in Europe and New Zealand are rap- 

 idly becoming domesticated (10], and different 

 species of deer are being crossed to improve 

 production characteristics (32). Eland and oryx 

 in Africa (47), capybara in South America (17), 

 and crocodiles and butterflies in Papua New 

 Guinea (33,34) are also being harvested in semi- 

 controlled programs that may entail domesti- 

 cation of segments of these populations. In such 

 a situation, domestication should not be 

 avoided. Instead, great care must be taken to 

 ensure that protected, viable wild populations 

 are also maintained free of contamination from 

 domesticated subpopulations. Such an ap- 

 proach, though difficult, is necessary to meet 

 the joint goals of food production and mainte- 

 nance of genetic diversity. 



NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES 



Needs and opportunities for maintaining ani- 

 mal diversity offsite involve both application 

 of available technologies and development of 

 new technologies. Needs differ considerably be- 

 tween wild and domestic animals, and these 

 two groups will be considered separately. For 

 wild animals, many of the needs involve adap- 

 tation of techniques that are currently available 

 for domestic animals. In some cases, these 

 adaptations are straightforward. In others, con- 

 siderable basic research will be required. In do- 

 mestic animals, efforts to assess and evaluate 

 global genetic resources and facilitate their 



movement will probably assist in maintaining 

 diversity. Mechanisms to monitor genetic diver- 

 sity in domestic populations are also badly 

 needed. 



Wild Animals 

 Expertise in Relevant Areas 



Maintenance of captive breeding populations 

 of wild animals requires that breeding pro- 

 grams be based on principles of quantitative 

 genetic management to avoid losses in genetic 



