The advent of man brought many species to extinction. Ironically, today some of the most endangered animal and plant species don’t live in nature, but rather in zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens. A review published on February 24, 2023 in the Magazine Science compared the species holdings of zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens with data from the IUCN red list. The researchers found that 84 species exist only under human care but are extinct in the wild (EW) .

Many factors contribute to the extinction of species. Human caused climate change might be the biggest overall and unfolds rapidly.  While the changes in weather pattern and temperature can be predicted with some degree of certainty, it is impossible to predict with the same accuracy if a species will be able to adapt to these new conditions. Other factors that affect the survival of populations and species are: introduced species, habitat changes/destruction, road kills, chemical use, increase of the human population, decrease of the prey base and many more factors.

In their paper Donal Smith and coworkers of the Zoological Society of London argue that most ex situ populations are small (less than 1000 individuals) and were founded by few individuals. This precondition makes it highly likely that these populations display low genetic diversity. Smith, et al, state that reestablishment of species in the wild has been successfully established only in a few cases, and has only been attempted for about one-fourth of current EW species.

Regarding West Indian boas, the conservation status is much different for the different taxa of West Indian boas.  For most taxa, there are currently several hundreds to thousands of  individuals per taxon reamining in the wild. This is a reminder for the necessity to act while we still can. If we collect today animals from different species/subspecies/populations, and bring them into concerted ex situ reproduction projects, we stand a fighting chance to win this battle against extinction.

The impact of the controlled collection on the populations would be minuscule, while it would lead to a sustainable, self reproducing ex situ population of these threatened boas.  We consider this paper a good reminder and justification for a concerted approach and a collection plan. Using animals with known origin to establish geo-redundant ex situ populations appears to be the best approach to secure the future for most West Indian boas.

Due to the size and ease of care involved for these boas, in combination with the abundance of knowledgeable and serious reptile keepers willing to devote time and money into species protection, a concerted approach between private individuals and zoos appears to be the best and most goal oriented way to share costs, space and labor. This approach would guarantee a more diversified and stable population than a single breeding outfit alone could possibly achieve.

The authors say that “Although we recognize that the challenges facing decision makers are considerable, we argue that real opportunities to prevent extinction and return previously lost species to the wild abound. We just need to seize them.”  We totally agree with this statement.
For additional information on this subject, read our article on Zoos here.

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