SPECIAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENTS 



Endangered wildlife species 



Tliroughout the count rv, interest is growing in 

 the preservation of scarce aiul endangered birds 

 and mammals, such as the whooping crane, bald 

 eagle, black-footed ferret, and key deer. With in- 

 creasing human demands on wild lands for recrea- 

 tion, commercial development, roads, and other 

 uses, many wildlife species are unable to meet the 

 added competition. If they are to be preserved, 

 it is time to appraise the situation precisely and 

 take the most appropriate action. 



To this end, tlie Bureau's Committee on Rare 

 and Endangered Wildlife Species issued in No- 

 vember 19fi4 a preliminary draft of "Rare and 

 Endangered Fish and Wildlife of the United 

 States.'" Copies were distributed to 275 American 

 biologists and conseiTationists for comment and 

 criticism. Included in tlie draft were data sheets 

 on 36 birds and 16 mammals regarded as threat- 

 ened. Many suggestions and nominations of addi- 

 tional forms have been received, and all will be 

 carefully considered before a final i-eport is pre- 

 pared. The summarv' will be of great value to 

 biologists, legislators, sportsmen, conservationists, 

 and others having an interest in the i>reservation 

 of American wildlife. 



Captive propagation 



PreliminaiT studies on the propagation of en- 

 dangered wildlife and the assemlily of breeding 

 stock of several such birds were begim in 1961. 

 This activity is stationed temporaiily at the Monte 

 Vista National Wildlife Refuge in south-cent I'al 

 Colorado, pending selection of a more fully satis- 

 factory' location. Propagation is now an integral 

 )>art of tlie Bureau's reseai-cli and management 



program in behalf of wildlife species threatened 

 with extinction. Highlights of the work in 1964 

 follow. 



Sandhill a-ane propagation. — A total of 43 

 adult and subadult sandhill cranes were main- 

 tained at the station in 1964. No reproduction 

 was anticipated, since most of the cranes had not 

 reached tlie minimum breeding age of 3 years. 

 No problems invoh ing diet or disease were 

 encountered. 



In the spring of 1964 a total of 32 eggs were 

 collected from greater sandliill nests on the Mal- 

 heur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. These 

 were transported in a Bureau plane, using newly 

 devised equipment consisting of a small portable 

 incubator and a transverter to maintain proper 

 temi>eratures en route. The first collection of 14 

 eggs was flown to Patusent's station at Lafayette, 

 La., for mechanical versus silky bantam incubation 

 tests, since facilities had not yet been completed at 

 Monte Vista. Because of bad weather, the trip 

 required 5 days and necessitated flying at 16,000 

 feet diu'ing a part of the time but there were no 

 adverse effe.cts on hatchability of the eggs. 



A second shipment of 16 eggs from Malheur 

 to Monte Vista was made several weeks later. 

 Although meclianical difficulties resulted in some 

 incubation-associated losses of embryos, it now 

 appears that (1) satisfactory methods and equij)- 

 ment have been develoi)ed for collecting and 

 transporting crane eggs during the incubation 

 period, (2) hatchability exceeding 90 percent can 

 be attained using either electric incubatoi-s or 

 bantams, and (3) survivability rates approaching 

 100 percent can be obtained with chicks hatched. 

 Attention will now be directed to reproduction in 

 the mature groups of sandhill cranes held in 

 (•ajitivity. 



T75-624 O — 65 



