Improving the sustainability of ex situ populations with mate choice

Abstract

Species Survival Plans® (SSPs) are not meeting goals for population size and genetic diversity due to failure of recommended pairs to breed successfully. According to AZA Population Management Center analyses, as many as 80% of recommended breeding pairs fail to produce young before the next breeding and transfer plan is issued.Determining reasons for failure and ensuring that a specific pairing produces offspring can be challenging. Mate incompatibility, one possible reason for failure, might be addressed by allowing mate choice. Although many SSP® coordinators and breeding managers, who implement breeding recommendations at their institutions, recognize the potential benefits of mate choice, examples and models for presenting and assessing choice are lacking. Here we review examples from birds, rodents, lagomorphs, marsupials, carnivores, fishes, and insects where mate choice has been incorporated. These examples provide strong evidence that free mate choice and mating with preferred partners increase a variety of reproductive success measurements when compared to assigned mate pairings. We suggest innovative housing and breeding arrangements for better incorporating mate choice into the management strategies for species held ex situ. Further, we discuss the fitness consequences and welfare implications of allowing choice. We advocate for a more systematic use of behavioral research in cooperative breeding programs. Behavioral management for mating can yield more successful programs, thus ensuring SSP® genetic and demographic goals are met, while simultaneously improving welfare.

Advancing mate choice studies in salmonids

“…Application and importance for salmonid aquaculture, conservation, and management There is a growing body of evidence that mate choice is important for offspring production in captive contexts, with greater offspring production for individuals who were able to choose their own mates compared to individuals who could not (see Martin-Wintle et al 2018 for a review). In salmon aquaculture, individuals are not given the opportunity to select their mates and in many instances, there is little to opportunity for post-copulatory sexual selection (e.g.…”

Advancing the science behind animal program sustainability: An overview of the special issue

“…This would be a notable departure from the zoological profession's dogma of working with endangered species. Other large scale changes that are possible include re‐designing studbook and population management tools, software or philosophes, for example by allowing for the incorporation of molecular data into genetic management (see Norman, Putnam, & Ivy, this issue) or by intentionally allowing mate choice to dictate who breeds with whom (see Martin‐Wintle, Wintle, Díez‐León, Swaisgood, & Asa, this issue).…”

Getting the world’s fastest cat to breed with speed

“…Efforts to improve assisted reproduction and natural breeding programs in cheetahs and other wildcats offer lessons beyond cats for many zoo animals, Comizzoli says. Captive birds, rodents, large carnivores, marsupials, fish, and insects can all be choosy about their mates and breed more successfully in programs that offer mate choice rather than assigning partners, according to a study published last fall (20). It concluded that greater use of behavioral research in species survival plans could raise breeding success across many captive species.…”