A4.

23S

Student

Activity 4.23 Animal dating agency

Purpose

To examine the use of studbooks to manage captive populations of endangered animals.

What are studbooks?

Studbooks are kept by zoos involved in breeding endangered species. They keep a record of the
history of all captive individuals, their parents, location and any movements between zoos. In this
activity, using real data from a lemur studbook, you have to identify key individuals involved in the
captive breeding programme. This should highlight the complexity of animal management in a
modern zoo. Names of the actual zoos and the species of lemur have been removed for reasons of
privacy.
Managing captive lemur populations

Read pages 195197 of the AS textbook and then use the data in Table 1 taken from a lemur
studbook to answer the questions that follow.
Stud No.

Sex

*Sire

*Dam

Date of Event

Event

Location

L1

*Wild

Wild

Aug 1985
Aug 1985
Nov 1996

Capture
Transfer to
Death

Malagasy
Zoo G
Zoo G

L4

Wild

Wild

Nov 1990
Dec 1990
Nov 1996
Jul 1999

Capture
Loan to
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo B
Zoo A

L5

Wild

Wild

Nov 1990
Dec 1990

Capture
Loan to

Malagasy
Zoo A

L8

Wild

Wild

Nov 1990
Dec 1990

Capture
Loan to

Malagasy
Zoo A

L10

Wild

Wild

Nov 1990
Dec 1990
Dec 1992
Apr 1998
Jul 1999

Capture
Loan to
Transfer to
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo G
Zoo A
Zoo B

L11

Wild

Wild

Nov 1990
Dec 1990
May 1998

Capture
Loan to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo D

L13

L5

L8

Aug 1993
Dec 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo C

L15

L5

L8

Aug 1994
May 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo D

L16

L5

L8

Aug 1994

Birth

Zoo A

L20

L10

L1

Mar 1995
Apr 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo G
Zoo A

L21

L5

L8

Jul 1995
Nov 1996

Birth
Loan to

Zoo A
Zoo B

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Pearson Education Ltd 2008. University of York Science Education Group.
This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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A4.23S

Student

Activity 4.23 Animal dating agency

L22

L5

L8

Apr 1996
Jun 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo E

L24

L11

L15

May 1996
May 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo D

L25

L11

L15

May 1996
May 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo D

L26

L5

L8

Jan 1997

Birth

Zoo A

L27

L5

L8

Jan 1997

Birth

Zoo A

L28

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Dec 1998
Jan 2001

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to
Death

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo F
Zoo F

L29

L28

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997

Capture
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A

L30

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Oct 1998
Oct 2001

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo C
Zoo E

L31

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Dec 1998

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo F

L32

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Dec 1998
Jan 2001

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to
Death

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo F
Zoo F

L34

L33

L32

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Jun 1998
Oct 2001

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo E
Zoo C

L38

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Nov 2001

Capture
Transfer to
Death

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo A

L39

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997

Capture
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A

L40

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Dec 1998

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo F

L41

Wild

Wild

Mar 1997
Apr 1997
Oct 1998

Capture
Transfer to
Transfer to

Malagasy
Zoo A
Zoo C

L42

L5

L8

Jan 1998

Birth

Zoo A

L44

L38

L39

Jun 1998
Feb 2002

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo H

L46

L31

L40

Jul 1998
Dec 1998

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo F

L47

L5

L8

Oct 1998

Birth

Zoo A

L48

L5

L8

Oct 1998

Birth

Zoo A

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Pearson Education Ltd 2008. University of York Science Education Group.
This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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A4.23S

Student

Activity 4.23 Animal dating agency

L49

L38

L39

Apr 1999

Birth

Zoo A

L50

L5

L8

Aug 1999
Jul 2001

Birth
Transfer to

Zoo A
Zoo H

L51

L5

L8

Aug 1999

Birth

Zoo A

L52

L31

L40

May 1999

Birth

Zoo F

L53

L31

L40

May 1999

Birth

Zoo F

L57

L29

L20

Mar 2000

Birth

Zoo A

L58

L38

L39

Apr 2000

Birth

Zoo A

L60

L5

L8

Oct 2000

Birth

Zoo A

L62

L29

L20

Jan 2001

Birth

Zoo A

L63

L29

L20

Jan 2001

Birth

Zoo A

L64

L38

L39

Apr 2001

Birth

Zoo A

L65

L31

L40

May 2000

Birth

Zoo F

L66

L31

L40

May 2001

Birth

Zoo F

L75

L5

L8

Jul 2001

Birth

Zoo A

*Note Wild-caught animals: an assumption is made that wild-caught animals are not related.
Sire = father.
Dam = mother.

Source: DWCT/Jersey Zoo.

Questions
Q1

Which female lemur in Zoo A has had the most offspring?

Q2

L21 needs a new mate. Which males must she not be paired with and why?

Q3

Wild-caught animals are genetically important.

a Why do you think this is the case?
b Which lemur(s) in the studbook extract are the most important to breed from?
Give reasons for the use of studbooks in captive-breeding programmes?

Q4

Websites for further information

The American Zoo and Aquaria website gives a good description of what a studbook is and how
it works. The website is in the weblinks that accompany this activity.
Other studbooks can also be accessed on the web by conducting a search with the terms
studbook and zoo.

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Pearson Education Ltd 2008. University of York Science Education Group.
This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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