It seems like every few months, Chicagoans (the media included) lose their minds over baby animals being born somewhere in the city or suburbs. Because obviously.
And while cute new additions are perfectly good reasons to visit Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo and Shedd Aquarium, drawing guests is far from those institutions’ only motivation. Animals’ procreation in captivity often is part of efforts to keep species from going extinct.
Brookfield recently welcomed a baby Bornean orangutan into its wildlife family. And yes, she’s adorable. But the zoo’s newest bundle of joy also is critically endangered. The Bornean species, combined with the Sumatran variety, has a population of fewer than 100 in North American zoos. Climate change, habitat loss and illegal hunting are all major threats to these animals, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List of Threatened Species.
When it comes to breeding animals in a zoological setting, Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo and Shedd Aquarium play an important role in wildlife conservation. Each helps protect and restore the populations of certain species through breeding programs and species survival plans. In other words, most pregnancies are not an accident.
“Breeding and reproduction is a natural part of the life cycle for our animals,” said Andrea Rodgers, Shedd’s vice president of communications and public relations. “It’s natural and good welfare to encourage it, and it’s vital to us to advancing the scientific body of knowledge.
“The need to enhance public understanding and appreciation of marine mammals and the aquatic world has gained urgency as more of the world’s waters are polluted, more habitats are lost and more species become endangered. The animals in Shedd‘s care, and the care of other accredited aquariums and marine parks, offer a rare window into the biology and behavior of rarely studied species.”
Many of the endangered animals populating Chicago facilities were either born there or transferred there through partnerships with other institutions. Lincoln Park Zoo is unique in that it hosts the Population Management Center, which provides assistance to zoos and aquariums across the country by conducting demographic and genetic analyses and prepares breeding and transfer plans for Species Survival Plan species.
Chicago’s zoos and aquariums are governed by legal and federal regulations regarding animal welfare when it comes to obtaining wild animals. For example, in Shedd’s case, it has not gone out and collected dolphins or whales from the wild in more than 25 years.
In addition, few endangered animals are released into the wild after being born and raised in captivity, as they’d likely not survive. But when it is determined that an animal will be transferred or set free, a number of factors are taken into consideration.
Rescue and rehabilitation efforts may result in the release of an animal. In May, Brookfield Zoo released two Mexican gray wolf pups into the wild as part of conservation recovery efforts. Blaze and Brooke were placed in the Arizona-based pack of wild wolves, which fostered them with its own litter of pups.
There are six categories into which the IUCN places animals it monitors (see chart below). Out of Brookfield’s 3,500 individual animals, representing 423 species not including invertebrates, the zoo has 40 species that fall into the endangered, critically endangered and extinct in the wild categories. Thirty-four of the approximately 200 species at Lincoln Park Zoo are considered either endangered, critically endangered or extinct in the wild. The Shedd is home to 32,000 animals representing more than 1,500 species of fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, birds and mammals from waters around the world. Of that total, 44 species are considered endangered or critically endangered.
Although there were many adorable babies born in Chicago’s zoos and aquarium in 2016, there are 10 endangered or near endangered species that welcomed a new addition since the start of 2016.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories
Least Concern: A species that does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened.
Near Threatened: Species that are close to qualifying for Vulnerable.
Vulnerable: Species facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future.
Endangered: Species that face a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.
Critically Endangered: Species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.
Extinct in the Wild: Species known only to survive in captivity or as a naturalized population well outside past range.
Status: Critically endangered
Natural habitat: Primorye, southeastern region of Russia
Chicago home: Brookfield Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Poaching
Number in the wild: Approximately 70
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: One
Status: Critically endangered
Natural habitat: China and Mongolia
Chicago home: Lincoln Park Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Hunting, predation and habitat loss
Number in the wild: Approximately 950 in the wild, 2 million domesticated
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: One (named Alexander Camelton)
Status: Critically endangered
Natural habitat: Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo
Chicago home: Brookfield Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Destruction, degradation and fragmentation of habitats, climate change and hunting
Number in the wild: Approximately 104,700
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: One
Status: Endangered
Natural habitat: Northern Madagascar
Chicago home: Lincoln Park Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Forest loss caused by slash-and-burn practices, habitat fragmentation, charcoal production, mining and other environmental impacts from humans
Number in the wild: 1,000 to 10,000
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: One
Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake
Status: Threatened (according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Natural habitat: Midwest to New York and Ontario
Chicago home: Lincoln Park Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Eradication, habitat loss and climate change
Number in the wild: Approximately 10,000
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: Five
Status: Vulnerable
Natural habitat: South and Southeast Asia
Chicago home: Brookfield Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Habitat loss and fragmentation due to urbanization, industrialization, agriculture and aquaculture.
Number in the wild: Fewer than 10,000
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: Two
Status: Endangered
Natural habitat: Eastern Africa, from Ethiopia to Kenya
Chicago home: Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Hunting, habitat loss, competition with livestock and disease
Number in the wild: Approximately 2,680
Population trend: Stable
Number born in Chicago in 2016: Two
Status: Endangered
Natural habitat: Nepal, China, Myanmar, India and Bhutan
Chicago home: Lincoln Park Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Forest loss and fragmentation, habitat degradation and physical threats
Number in the wild: Fewer than 10,000
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: Two cubs (a female named Waveland and a male named Sheffield)
Status: Endangered
Natural habitat: New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, northern Mexico and parts of southern Utah and Colorado
Chicago home: Brookfield Zoo
What’s threatening the species: Poaching
Number in the wild: Approximately 97
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: Five
Status: Endangered
Natural habitat: Indo-West Pacific Ocean. Red Sea and East Africa to New Caledonia and Fiji; north to southern Japan, south to New South Wales, Australia.
Chicago home: Shedd Aquarium
What’s threatening the species: “Zebra sharks … are hunted for meat, liver oil (used for vitamins) and fins (used for shark fin soup),” Rodgers said.
Number in the wild: Approximately 700
Population trend: Decreasing
Number born in Chicago in 2016: Six
Sources: Shedd Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Defenders.org
WHAT IS A SPECIES SURVIVAL PLAN?
An SSP is a carefully managed breeding program developed for species that are declining in the wild by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. They’re designed to establish healthy, genetically diverse and sustainable populations. Whether in a zoo or in the wild, the goal is to increase the overall population of threatened species.
@RianneCoale | rcoale@redeyechicago.com
