How to toughen up captive-bred animals for release into the Big Bad World
cushy number compared with the rigours of the wild. No predators. Little risk of disease. And a guaranteed food supply that you don’t have to work for. But that makes you soft. And if the purpose of your captivity is eventual reintroduction into a natural habitat, because you are a member of a rare species that human beings would rather did not become extinct, then having to make your own way in the world when that moment arrives can come as a rude awakening.
Ecologists have long understood that animals raised in captivity can be confused and disoriented when liberated. Breeding programmes therefore go out of their way to provide artificial habitats that are as naturalistic as possible. Amphibian vivaria intended for this purpose are thus supplied with plants, branches, soil and water similar to those found in the wild. Yet Dr Hammond and her colleagues suspected they might need something more: a Jacuzzi.
Five weeks later, she and her colleagues measured the amphibians and gave them a 30-second swimming test, which they filmed. The resulting videos recorded how far each frog travelled per stroke of its limbs, and also the total distance it moved in the half minute available. Shortly thereafter, they released their charges into the wild and monitored them for four subsequent months.
Crucially, one-year-olds that had had access to the aquatic treadmill also survived better in the wild. Monthly attrition rates were 65% for the control juveniles but only 49% for the Jacuzzi-jet juveniles.
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