STUDBOOK: Sulawesi wrinkled hornbill, Aceros corrugatus
The first edition of the North American Regional Aceros studbook was current through 31
December 1999. Since then, 2 annual updates were distributed to participants.
A second edition will be current through 31 December 2002 and will be
printed early in 2003. In the past 3 years, the captive status of the 5 species
of Aceros covered in this
regional studbook remained relatively stable.
This means that births and imports approximately equaled deaths
and exports. Whether this is
good or just satisfactory will be better known when the Population Management
Plan (PMP) for this genus is completed.
With a PMP, we will set goals for optimum number of birds for
each species. The preliminary analysis is that we should at least recommend
for PMP status, Aceros corrugatus. We might not have enough
available spaces to provide for a long term, genetically diverse, self-sustaining
captive population for any of the remaining 4 species. The following
listing show the numbers of current living birds at the end of the past
three years.
|
| Aceros cassidix: | 9.10.0 (19) in 8 institutions as of 31 December 1999 |
| 10.9.0 (19) in 8 institutions as of 31 December 2000 | |
| 10.9.1 (20) in 8 institutions as of 31 December 2001 | |
|
|
|
| Aceros corrugatus: | 30.33.3 (65) in 24 institutions as of 31 December 1999 |
| 33.31.1 (65) in 24 institutions as of 31 December 2000 | |
| 32.29.1 (62) in 26 institutions as of 31 December 2001 | |
|
|
|
| Aceros leucocephalus: | 2.2.0 (4) in 2 institutions as of 31 December 1999 |
| 2.2.0 (4) in 2 institutions as of 31 December 2000 | |
| 2.1.0 (3) in 2 institutions as of 31 December 2001 | |
|
|
|
| Aceros plicatus : | 10.8.0 (18) in 8 institutions as of 31 December 1999 |
| 10.7.0 (17) in 8 institutions as of 31 December 2000 |
|
| 10.7.0 (17) in 8 institutions as of 31 December 2001 | |
|
|
|
| Aceros undulatus : | 16.18.0 (34) in 13 institutions as of 31 December 1999 |
| 16.17.0 (33) in 12 institutions
as of 31 December 2000 |
|
| 14.17.1 (32) in 13 institutions as of 31 December 2001 | |
|
SUMMARY for 2001:
Three pairs of birds (at Ft. Worth Zoo, San Diego Zoo,
and St. Catherine’s Island) have bred successfully in 2001. The pair
at St. Catherine’s is significant because this is a first breeding and
both adults are F1 birds. One pair that previously bred (Honolulu),
was not successful this year. Three significant deaths occurred. Two of these birds
were wild caught, one of which was a founder, and the other bird had
never bred. Another bird that died was a bird that was bred at Kuala
Lumpur and was unrepresented in this region. Unfortunately, one female that was on loan from Honolulu
Zoo to Clear Springs Aviary (aka: New Braunfels Zoo) is “lost to follow
up”. This results in a slight decrease in the total population
and might be reason for concern for the long-term population management
plan.
Analysis of the captive population was done by the
Brandie Smith (SPMAG advisor) using Population Management 2000 (version
1.11). Population goals were set to maintain genetic diversity for 20
years at 90%. It is predicted that we will need 60-65 birds to reach
these goals. Even though we have 32.29.1 living birds in the regional
studbook, in this analysis, we only used 37 birds. We deleted from the
PMP analysis birds that are not in breeding situations (e.g. birds used
in educational programs), birds who have unknowns in their ancestry,
and birds that are in private collections (unless we have a commitment
from the private party to work with the PMP). This leaves us with a
need to increase the population by 23-28 birds. Since hornbills are large, long-lived species, space
is a limiting resource. There
have been several institutions that have expressed interest in working
with this species. This is great if we are to reach the 60-65 bird “goal”
in the managed population. Alternatively, to increase genetic diversity,
we can import birds from European and Asian collections. |