Singapore Zoo breeding endangered animals

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http://news./s/afp/singaporewildlifesciencetourismanimals Endangered

animals get new lease of life in Singapore

Three little cotton-top tamarind are being fed by a caretaker at the

zoological garden in Singapore. …

by Philip Lim Philip Lim – Fri Jan 29, 3:52 am ET

 

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Sporting spiked hair and silver earrings, Samuel Tay

hardly looks like a typical midwife.

 

The 25-year-old zookeeper beams with quiet pride as he watches over his

" babies " -- row upon row of snakes bred for Singapore's popular zoo.

 

" These are my kids. Why do I need kids when I have so many already? " he told

AFP, gesturing to tanks where newborn reptiles, including some from

highly endangered

species, receive tender loving care.

 

From jaguars and chimpanzees to Komodo dragons and manatees, heavily

urbanised Singapore is gaining a reputation as a successful nursery for some

of the world's rarest animals.

 

With a breeding programme for 315 species, around one in six of which are

threatened, the Singapore Zoo is seeing a steady stream of locally born

additions to its collection, currently numbering more than 2,500 animals.

 

Tay, a zoologist by training, is one of Singapore's frontline warriors in

the battle against animal extinction, and visitors from around the world

help fund the campaign.

 

The Singapore Zoo and its attached Night Safari, dedicated to nocturnal

animals, each welcomes more than a million visitors a year.

 

Last year, 142 animals were born in the zoo, 32 of which were threatened

species, officials said.

 

Experts from Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), the operator of the

city-state's zoo, night safari and bird park, do not rely on Mother Nature

for results.

 

" We are very pragmatic, in the sense that if we need to make things happen,

we will go all out to make things happen, " said the group's assistant

director of zoology Biswajit Guha.

 

The latest star of the programme is a baby Komodo dragon hatched in December

-- the first born in an Asian zoo outside the giant lizard's native

Indonesia.

 

The hatchling was the culmination of three years of effort by zookeepers

watching over every step of its parents' courtship and mating to make sure

everything went as planned, said Tay.

 

" It's always supervised contact, we never leave them alone together, " he

said.

 

This interventionist approach is extended to other creatures at Singapore's

wildlife attractions, including the Jurong Bird Park, another major tourist

draw.

 

" We don't take a wait-and-see approach. We will give it a certain amount of

time for the animals to decide for themselves if they do want to mate, but

if things don't go right, then we usually come in, " Guha said.

 

Aside from making enclosures look and feel like native habitats,

cutting-edge technology and scientific methods are deployed to make sure

animals mate with the best possible partners at the most opportune time.

 

They include matching viable females with genetically superior males using

semen analysis and monitoring the females' fertility cycles through regular

ultrasound tests -- something that not all zoos can afford to do.

 

" Diagnostic facilities are not cheap, " noted senior veterinarian Abraham

Mathew. " You need the manpower and you need the expertise to do this. All

zoos actually want to do this type of work, but whether they can do it or

not would depend on their management, " he said.

 

A mobile ultrasound machine used by the zoo costs around 20,000 Singapore

dollars (14,200 US) and includes an expensive probe that allows

veterinarians to accurately check female animals' fertility out in the

field.

 

Such resources have helped make the city state a breeding hub for threatened

animals, said Guha.

 

Zoo staff hope a pair of pandas to be loaned by China will produce offspring

in the coming years.

 

" For us, captive populations form an insurance population, so it is our

objective to make sure that there are sustainable numbers in captivity, "

Guha said.