Ch. 9— Maintaining Biological Diversity in the United States • 241 



Public awareness of the potential problems 

 associated with loss of genetic diversity and in- 

 stitutional concern about the issue are not as 

 evident for domestic animal species as they are 

 for agricultural crop species. Concern about 

 loss of agricultural animal diversity is increas- 

 ing, however, at the international level, where 

 a perception exists that a significant amount 

 of genetic diversity is disappearing (see ch. 10). 

 Insufficient information exists on the status and 

 trends of domestic animal breeds at the global 

 level to substantiate this belief (19). But it is the 

 unregistered and unrecognized breeds that are 

 in the greatest danger of becoming extinct. 



Wild Animals 



Federal efforts to maintain wild animals off- 

 site occur only through the captive breeding 

 programs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice. Individual specimens of critically endan- 

 gered species may be selected for captive breed- 

 ing programs at the Patuxent Wildlife Research 

 Center in Patuxent, MD. The center has been 

 responsible for the captive breeding and rein- 

 troduction of more than 60 species of birds, 

 mammals, and reptiles native to the United 

 States (37). 



Endangered fish species have been propa- 

 gated at the Fish and Wildlife Service's National 

 Fish Hatchery in Dexter, NH. Additionally, 

 FWS provides nominal funding for captive 

 breeding and reintroduction programs for en- 

 dangered animal species to the private sector, 

 and in one case, to the State of Wyoming to re- 

 cover the black-footed ferret. Overall, however, 

 programs for the offsite maintenance of diver- 

 sity in wild animals are controlled and financed 

 primarily by universities and institutions in the 

 private sector (37). 



Zoos are well-known storehouses for wild ani- 

 mal species, although historically they made 

 few contributions to maintaining biological 

 diversity. But their role in this area is becom- 

 ing significant, especially in terms of public 

 education. More institutions are identifying the 

 need for expanded activity in research and tech- 

 nology development to maintain genetic diver- 

 sity of zoo animals. 



In one case, zoos are working together to 

 maintain viable populations of wild animals 

 bred in captivity. The American Association 

 of Zoological Parks and Aquariums coordinates 

 breeding programs for selected endangered 

 wild species. These programs, known as Spe- 

 cies Survival Plans (SSPs), are being imple- 

 mented for some 30 species that are critically 

 endangered in the wild, that have sufficient 

 numbers at various zoos to ensure genetic via- 

 bility within a captive breeding program, and 

 that have a sufficient nucleus of professionals 

 at the cooperating institutions to carry out the 

 plan (1). (For a discussion of captive breeding 

 techniques, see ch. 6.) 



Breeding programs are designed by experts 

 with knowledge of the species and carried out 

 by scientists within the zoological community 

 (1). Since more animal species meet the SSP 

 criteria than zoos realistically have resources 

 to implement, further criteria exist for deter- 

 mining which species to include: 



1. a high probability of successful implemen- 

 tation of the plan, 



2. a high relative degree of endangerment, 

 and 



3. a high relative degree of uniqueness within 

 the animal kingdom. 



Species Survival Plans are designed to over- 

 come the space and population limitations of 

 most zoos. For many institutions, adequate fa- 

 cilities to maintain a viable breeding popula- 

 tion of at least 250 animals simply do not exist. 

 The SSP outlines agreements between partici- 

 pants in the program for the translocation of 

 lareeding adults or their reproductive products 

 (e.g., eggs, sperm, or embryos) among zoos to 

 simulate a much larger breeding population 

 than could exist at any one facility. Informa- 

 tion on the breeding programs must be care- 

 fully recorded and entered into a master data- 

 base, the International Species Inventory 

 System (ISIS). These programs are too new to 

 assess their effectiveness in maintaining genetic 

 diversity. 



ISIS was developed at the Minnesota Zoo to 

 catalog information about the genetic makeup 

 of individual animals from more than 200 zoo- 



