Captive breeding of a threatened species is an important tool for species conservation. Since 1971 the Parque de Rescate de Fauna Sahariana, a facility belonging to the Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) in Almería, manages populations of three species of endangered gazelles which were rescue from extinction through ex situ conservation, captive breeding programmes. One of this species managed at Almería is Cuvier’s gazelle, or “harmush” as it is called in Western Sahara. The first Cuvier’s gazelle individuals (2.2) were brought to the Parque de Rescate de Fauna Sahariana in 1975 by Dr. Valverde from the former Spanish Sahara, where they were part of a captive population in the Oued Drâa Valley, near Tan-Tan (Escós 1992). Thirty-three years later, the captive population of the harmush in Almería is over 145 individuals. Apart from that, there are smaller captive populations in 11 zoological institutions of the United Stated, Canada, and Europe, totalling up to 260 individuals (including Almería). Considering that one of the goals of captive breeding is to establish captive populations large enough to be demographically stable, it seems that this goal has been met by the captive population of Cuvier’s gazelle. During this period, the species studbook has been published twice. The first, by Dr. J. Escós in 1992, included data from 1975 up to 1992. In 2005, the second edition, by Drs. T. Abáigar and M. Cano, updated records to 2001. Wendy Enright, the North American studbook keeper, has been updating and publishing a deliverable version of the Regional Studbook yearly. In 2001, she provided us with an updated version of the North American population, which was included in the published edition by Abáigar and Cano (2005). Since then, Wendy has been collaborating in this International Studbook by maintaining the North American Regional one. This current edition is not just an update. It includes the records of individuals that have been “missing” for over 20 years. We are deeply in doubt to Beatrix Köler, from the Münchener Tierpark Hellabrun, for providing the invaluable information on the individuals they kept that zoo for about seven years. From this information we have been able to “find” out very important data on the parentage of individuals which were not included in previous editions. Considering that individuals from Münchener Tierpark Hellabrun were transferred to the San Diego Zoo (USA) between 1982 and 1988, data provided by Mrs Köler has much improved the information available on the world-wide captive population of Cuvier’s gazelle. IUCN recommendations require captive populations to be founded and managed according to sound scientific principles for the primary purpose of securing the survival of the species through stable, self-sustaining captive populations. With this goal in mind, we became the studbook keepers for this species in 2001. In the following pages, we would like to show what has been done to reach the goals of the captive breeding program throughout the history of the captive population: 1) to maintain a healthy age structure, 2) to ensure that reproduction is reliably successful, 3) to protect the population against diseases, and 4) to preserve the gene pool to avoid the problems of inbreeding. An updated version of the studbook up to 31 December 2007 is included, where some parentage errors found in the previous versions have been detected and corrected. Successful breeding in captivity is dependent on the availability of information on the focal species. Therefore, we also provide a husbandry manual, as it represents a valuable tool for institutions participating or willing to participate in the Cuvier’s gazelle breeding programme. We hope the guidelines of this manual improve species management through better understanding of the species in captivity.

Junta de Andalucía; European Regional Development Fund; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; European Association of Zoos and Aquaria

Peer reviewed