2010/10/21 by Jesse G. Delia · 2 citations
Environmental Science · #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Species Distribution and Climate Change #Avian ecology and behavior
paper · pdf · doi:10.3996/062010-jfwm-017
openalex publication_date 2010/10/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Birds have been bred in captivity since the dawn of civilization. In the nineteenth century, breeding rare and exotic animals for the menageries of royalty and aristocrats transitioned to the formation of public zoological gardens and natural history museums. With industrialization and human population expansion, some bird species became rare or disappeared entirely. Once the magnitude of the destructive forces of humans became evident, concerted efforts were initiated to restore depleted bird populations by using, among other techniques, captive breeding. In this article, I explore the evolution of avian conservation breeding programs and evaluate how this historical review informs our outlook for addressing the current extinction crisis.