Anthony Apa Ph.D, Michael Phillips Ph.D, & Lief Wiechman
Trapping and monitoring occurred in the Gunnison Basin and captive-rearing occurred in Fort Collins, Colo.
- To evaluate various techniques for incubating and hatching eggs and maintaining juvenile and adult Gunnison sage-grouse in captivity.
- To develop recommendations for possible captive breeding programs if used as a technique for conserving Gunnison sage-grouse.
Seven Gunnison sage-grouse (GUSG) populations currently inhabit areas of Utah and Colorado. Six of these populations are relatively small and have limited genetic diversity.
Transplanting mature and first-year juvenile GUSG to supplement these smaller populations is currently the only available augmentation technique for managers and additional tools are needed. Five alternatives explored in the Gunnison Sage Grouse Rangewide Conservation Plan involve some form of captive rearing. For example, grouse could be raised in captivity and released into the wild as needed.
CPW researchers initiated this project to evaluate various techniques for incubating and hatching eggs and maintaining juvenile and adult Gunnison sage-grouse in captivity.
During the course of this study, researchers
- Collected eggs from captive and wild-reared females;
- Artificially incubated and hatched eggs;
- Developed captive breeding husbandry techniques for GUSG of all ages;
- Determined if GUSG would incubate eggs and rear chicks in captivity; and
- Augmented wild surrogate females with captive-reared chicks at various ages.
Results from this study revealed that captive-reared and wild grouse brought into captivity will breed and produce viable eggs. Researchers also found that females, with limited success, will nest and successfully raise chicks in captivity.
As a result of this study, CPW became the first agency to develop basic husbandry protocol for captive rearing of Gunnison sage-grouse if captive-rearing programs are needed to improve the productivity and sustainability of Colorado's GUSG populations.
Apa, A. D., L. A. Wiechman, and M. L. Phillips. In Review. Captive-rearing of Gunnison sage-grouse from egg collection to hatch to foster proactive conservation and recovery of a conservation-reliant species. Zoo Biology.
Apa, A. D., L. A. Wiechman, and M. L. Phillips. In Review. Captive-rearing of juvenile and adult Gunnison sage-grouse to foster proactive conservation and recovery of a conservation-reliant species. Zoo Biology.