Tasmanian devils reared in captivity show they can thrive in the wild
Posted by Vikas Acharya on December 2, 2016
One of the concerns of any conservation breeding program is how well a species raised in captivity will survive when released into the wild.
Evolutionary changes that are beneficial for an individual while in captivity may reduce its fitness when translocated to the wild.
For some species, like many fish, rapid evolutionary changes can occur within the first generation in captivity. And carnivores raised in captivity have a low chance of surviving the first year following their release.
A review of 45 carnivore translocations, which included 17 different species, including the European lynx, European otter and the swift fox, found that if the animals had been raised in captivity they had on average a 30% chance of survival after release.
Save the devil program
All this was a concern then for efforts to help save the Tasmanian devil.
The devil plays an important functional role…
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