Animals born in captivity half as likely to reproduce

ANIMALS born in captivity are around half as likely to breed successfully compared to their wild counterparts, scientists have found.

The discovery casts doubt on the future success of breeding programmes designed to prevent the extinction of thousands of species.

According to the study, published in Nature Communications, marine creatures are the worst affected. Researchers analysed more than 100 results from 39 studies of 44 species, including shrimp, lemurs, ducks and elephants.

Lead author Kate Farquharson, a PhD student at the University of Sydney, said ‘certain traits, such as offspring weight and mothering ability, seem to be the most strongly affected’.

Across the animal kingdom, captive-born animals were found to have an average of 42 per cent decreased odds of reproductive success.

Conservationists are relying on captive breeding to prevent the extinction of nearly 2,200 species.