Preparing for the Future in Rothschild's Myna Breeding

Abstract

In March, 1978, I gave a paper in Seattle at the 1st Birds in Captivity Symposium in which I was groping toward ways to make our efforts in aviculture more relevant to the conservation of birds in the wild. Since that time several bits of information have directed my thoughts. This paper is intended to discuss them with you and to let you know where they have led me.

Again I'm going to discuss the Rothschild's myna or Jalak Bali as the Indonesians prefer we call it. It is Leucopsar rothschildi-Streseman 1913 to the scientists. The reason for choosing it is that it breeds well enough in zoos that a number of lines have developed. Also, it is an attractive aviary bird being largely white, with black wing and tail tips and with bare skin of a turquoise-blue color on the lores and behind the eye. It has an erectile crest, slightly longer in males.

It is found only on Bali and is now confined to the few remaining forest areas at the northwest tip of the Island. There has been some confusion about the number of Rothschild's myna to be found in the wild. That is because another partly white myna occurs on Bali. It is the black-winged starling Sturnus (Gracupica) melanopterus, a bird reported as common and frequently mistaken by visitors for the more widely heralded but always rare Bali myna.

The latest report I have is that of the Smithsonian's John Seidensticker who was there last August looking for indications that the Bali tiger Panthera tigris balica still existed. John found that the tiger is gone and the Rothschild's myna is declining and vulnerable, though he hesitated at estimating numbers. 10 There was an estimate of 550 by an expedition of The Ecological Institute of Universitas Nasional, from Jakarta, earlier the same year: 5 This is a species very much endanger ed. Having learned that the numbers were dwindling and that the exportation into captivity was very much less oflate, I began to wonder how our captive populations stood.

 

I decided to examine our own flock data at Washington. Records had been kept, but never summarized. In fact, getting the information together so it could be summarized appeared more formidable than the summation. I obtained the cooperation of a volunteer, Joan Smith, who as a representation of FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) was keeping records at the Bird House last summer. I asked her to make copies of the individual record sheets of all the Rothschild's mynas and to run off copies of all notes about them in daily keeper reports, death reports, etc. She did, and I found it fairly easy to make a record of each bird, and what we know about it. 3

Several facts became apparent very soon. What we had suspected was true. One pair had started to breed, They had dominated all others and had inhibited any breeding by others. From our first hatching in December, 1970 until the death of the female in September, 1973 one pair fledged 36 young . . . but no others nested. By October, 1973 the male was mated with one of his two-year-old daughters and they were the only producers for the next year. The male caught avian pox from a wild common starling which somehow got into the Bird House and died on November 4, 1974. By then, he and his daughter had fledged 15 more youngsters. During 1973 and 1974 two pairs of second generation young started to breed, in isolation from the original pair, but all were from the same parents.

Our records drove home to me two points. The first, that many collections might have our situation - one pair dominating the breeding resulting in many related young. The second, if those early pairs were sufficiently productive, there might still be plenty of first generation young around for some widespread outcrossing.

Although I was reluctant to get into the records analyzing end of the bird business any further, I had gone too far to turn back. I prepared a letter and questionnaire. I sent them to every zoo in the country which was named in the latest listing by IZY (International Zoo Yearbook) of Bali myna breedings (1976). I sent it to several private breeders also. I wanted to know if they had had breeding by a wild-caught pair.

I had to assume that those were probably unrelated because of the great amount of shuffling which would have been done in assembling enough birds for shipments, and again in the final selling off of the birds. If that were a true assumption, then any first generation offspring from those pairs would be unrelated to those oflike parentage in other collections.

I found that of the thirty-seven collections which responded, collection numbers 5, 12, 20, 23, 24, 26, 35, and 37 had bred wild-caught pairs. From their answers and those of the others, I discovered that there still existed 27 of the wild caught birds and 58 first generation young late last winter. From that excellent nucleus, we could set up a ''multitude" of unrelated pairs. Then by judicious shuffling back and forth, we could provide a sound genetic basis for the breeding for years to come.

At the time of the Seattle Symposium there was not much hope that aviculturists would have the freedom to make the exchanges and shipments of birds necessary to set up the unrelated pairs. It would have been illegal under the Endangered Species Act. It seemed that the only chance would be to obtain CSSP (Captive SelfSustaining Population) status for the Rothschild's myna under the Act. And at about that time the F&WS quit accepting proposals for such status, saying they had decided to issue new regulations for...

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References

Delacour. Jean (1974). Birds of Malaysia. The MacMillan Co. New York, pg. 327-328.

Greenwell, Guy A. Rothschild's Myna Managernent , Proceedings of the First Birds in Captivity Symposium, Seattle, Washington, March 10, 1978 (In Press).

Greenwell, Guy A. Rothschild's Myna Statistics. A study of the breeding history and fare of 75 Bali mynas at the National Zoological Park. July 31, 1978, 9 pgs.

Hewill, Oliver H., Ed. "The Wild Turkey and its Management." The Wildlife Society, 1967.

Jusuf, Eddy. Again About Bali's Starling. Indonesian Nature & Science Newsletter, Jakarta. July, 1978, #6:4-5.

Ralls, Katherine, Kristin Brugger and Adam Glick (1977). Inbreeding Depression in a Herd of Captive Dorcas Gazelle, Gazella dorcas. Office of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008 (MS).

Ralls, Katherine ( 1977). Inbreeding and Juvenile Mortality in Small Populations of Ungulates. Office of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008.

* Ripley, S.D. (1973). Saving the Wood Duck Aix sponsa through Captive Breeding. International Zoo Yearbook, 13:55-58.

Ripley, S. Dillon. The Potential of Captive Breeding to Save Endangered Bird Species. Proceedings of XVI International Ornithological Congress, Berlin, West Germany, June 8, 1978 (In Press).

Seidensticker, John. The Bali Barat Reserve, 1978. WWF-Indonesia Program, P.O. Box 133. Bogor, Indonesia and Office of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008, USA. 11 pgs.

Sieber, von Johanna. Freilandbeobachtungen und Versucb einer Bestandsaufnahme des Bali. Stars Leucopsarrotbscbildi. Joum, Omitbologie, 119, 1978: 102-106.

Spilsbury, D.T. Rothschild's Myna. Register & Report on 1969 Census. Aviculture Magazine, 76:115-129, 1970.

Presented at 1979 Convention of American Federation of Aviculrure , Hollywood, Florida; August 24, 1979.