Endocrinological studies for artificial breeding of the Japanese ibis, Nipponia nippon, an endangered avian species in Asia.
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Date
1994-10
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Abstract
Once the Japanese ibis, or the Japanese crested ibis, was widely distributed in
Asia including Japan, Korea, China and Siberia, and was not a rare species. However, this
species started to disappear over its entire range beginning in the late 19th or early 20th
century. Currently, only a single population of 15-20 individuals survives in wild in Yang
Xian, Shaanxi, China. Several individuals, mostly immature birds, are kept in captivity in
Beijing zoo. One of them is an adult male captured in 1981 in Japan and sent to Beijing
zoo for breeding two years ago. In Japan, only, a single old female survives in captivity.
Scientists of the Japanese Ibis Preservation Center in Sado Island and Ueno zoo, Tokyo,
had attempted several times to breed Japanese ibises in captivity, but they have failed in
all of their attempts. In Beijing zoo, a similar attempt is now being carried out.
As the basis of an artificial breeding programme of this and other species of birds, the
authors have attempted to establish a noninvasive method for estimation of gonadal activities
of birds and also a method to induce a complete series of the ovarian activity, i.e., ovarian
growth, ovulation and oviposition, by means of hormone administration to some species
of birds. In this communication, the author briefly reports recent results of these attempts
in addition to results of measurements of gonadotropin levels in plasma of captive Japanese
ibises and white ibises, a closely related species, Threskiornis aethiopicus.
Description
Keywords
Nipponia nippon, artificial breeding, endangered bird, gonadotropin, fecal sex Steroids
Citation
Ishii Susumu, Wada Masaru, Wakabayashi Shuichi, Sakai Hidetsugu, Kubodera Yoshinori, Yamaguchi Nobuyuki, Kikuchi Motoshi. Endocrinological studies for artificial breeding of the Japanese ibis, Nipponia nippon, an endangered avian species in Asia. Journal of Biosciences. 1994 Oct; 19(4): 491-502.