Careful breeding resulting in equalization of founder representation and recruitment of existing potential founders, increasing the population growth rate, and improving the Ne/N ratio all could extend the time to 90%. This population, given its current size, number of unrepresented founders, and availability of new founders, has the foundation for meeting standardized genetic goals for captive populations under population management. Without management, projections are grim, with less than 1% gene diversity expected at 100 years from present.
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| Toco Toucan |
The Toco Toucan current population size is 75 distributed among 30 institutions; of these, 12 have been excluded from the genetic analyses because they come from unknown pedigrees. The known pedigree population of known pedigreed specimens can be grown to the TAG recommended target size in 10 years given a 1% annual growth rate while the unknown pedigreed portion of the population is phased out by attrition. Of great concern to this population are the large number of unrepresented potential founders many of which are aged, the low Ne/N ratio, and the lack of population growth attributed to captive propagation relative to that from private sector acquisitions. It is crucial to the long-term management of this population that these concerns be addressed.
As with SSP populations, pairings recommended for this population are prioritized to maintain or increase gene diversity through considerations of mean kinship, avoidance of inbreeding, differences in sire and dam mean kinships, and the degree of uncertainty within a pedigree.
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| Toco Toucan |
Summary Actions: The PMP will have no exportations, no importations of potential founders. Approximately 8 offspring are recommended for year 2003. Specific pairings have not been recommended in the PMP. MateRx Mate Suitability Indices are provided to assist participating institutions in establishing appropriate pairings.
Records indicate toco toucans first appeared in North American zoos as early as 1902 but
were not commonly held until the 1960’s. It was not until the mid-1970s that captive breeding became a source of captive specimens. Captive propagation of this species is still uncommon, and importation has become much more difficult since it was listed on CITES Appendix II. To further complicate genetic management, specimens frequently arrive in zoos from the private sector with unknown pedigrees. Genetic and demographic analyses of the population were performed in October 2002 resulting in the current Population Management Plan for the AZA North American toco toucan population.
Recommendations contained in this Population Management Plan represent the results of these analyses and superceed recommendations made in earlier plans. Population Management Plan analyses were performed on the North American Regional Toco Toucan Studbook (current to 1 August 2002) using SPARKS 1.5 and PM2000 1.17. The goal of these recommendations is to help insure the genetic and demographic health of this population. Recommendations proposed in a Population Management Plan are non-binding; participation is voluntary.
Managed Population: The current population is 75 distributed among 30 AZA institutions. Twelve animals were excluded from the managed population due to unknown pedigrees of 50% or greater. Where possible, assumptions were incorporated into the pedigree to include a greater number of individuals. The managed population that remains after these exclusions is 63. The target population (TAG RCP under review) size for toco toucan is 85. No exclusions were made for health or behavioral reasons. Individuals excluded from the managed (known pedigree) population as well as assumptions are listed in Appendix A.
Demography: Population growth still relies heavily on acquisitions from the private sector and many of those birds entering the AZA population are of unknown pedigree or may be wild caught. While occasional additions of wild caught specimens would benefit the population, those animals coming
from private sources often have little documentation to support founder status. The captive population would derive greater benefit from successful propagation within the managed population than it would from a continued influx of unknown pedigree animals.
Population annual growth rates attributed to captive propagation within AZA institutions have varied greatly from year to year (annual range = 0.76 – 2.20) but the population has exhibited an overall trend of increase with a mean annual growth rate of 1.09. The known pedigree population (n= 63)
currently is below the target population size of 85 specimens, while the total population (including unknown pedigree animals) approaches the target size. Those animals of unknown pedigrees should be phased out of the population by attrition, while the known pedigree portion of the population should be grown to the target size. Given an annual growth rate of 1% the population could be grown to 85 specimens in 10 years. A 1% growth rate should be easily surpassed given the 10% mean growth rate observed over the past five years.
