Use captive breeding to increase or maintain populations of bustards

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 4
Share Tweet Email

View assessment score

How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

41%
Certainty

16%
Harms

5%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Study locations

Key messages

We captured four studies of a houbara bustard, Chlamydotis undulata, macqueenii captive breeding programme in Saudi Arabia.
The project successfully raised chicks in captivity, with 285 chicks hatched in the 7^th year of the project after 232 birds were used to start the captive population. Captive birds bred earlier and appeared to lay more eggs than wild birds. Forty-six percent of captive eggs hatched and 43% of chicks survived to ten years old, although no comparison was made with wild birds.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A review of a houbara bustard, Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii, captive breeding programme in Saudi Arabia, starting in 1986 (Seddon et al. 1995) found that the captive population first bred in 1989, producing 17 chicks. In 1992, 138 chicks hatched, establishing a self-sustaining captive population. In 1993, 285 chicks hatched from 75 females. However, 18% of females never became accustomed to captivity and did not lay eggs. The captive population began as 103 chicks from Pakistan and 129 from the African subspecies C. u. undulata, all collected between 1986 and 1988. This study is also discussed in ‘Release captive-bred individuals’, ‘Use artificial insemination in captive breeding’ and ‘Artificially incubate and hand-rear birds in captivity’.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Seddon P.J., Saint Jalme M., van Heezik Y., Paillat P., Gaucher P. & Combreau O. (1995) Restoration of houbara bustard populations in Saudi Arabia: developments and future directions. Oryx, 29, 136-142.
A review (Jamie et al. 1996) of the same project as in Seddon et al. 1995 found that captive houbara bustards, Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii, first reproduced at an earlier age than wild birds, with 2% of females laying at one year old; 23% at two years; 62% at three years and 82% (i.e. all birds that became accustomed to captivity and so would be expected to lay) at four years old. This study is also discussed in ‘Use artificial insemination in captive breeding’, ‘Release captive-bred individuals’, ‘Release birds in ‘coveys’, ‘Use holding pens at site of release’ and ‘Use holding pens at site of release and clip birds’ wings’.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Jaime M.S., Combreau O., Seddon P.J., Paillat P. & van Heezik Y. (1996) Restoration of Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii (Houbara Bustard) Populations in Saudi Arabia: A Progress Report. Restoration Ecology, 4, 81-87.
Another review (van Heezik & Ostrowski 2001) of the same project found that, between 1992 and 1999, 46% of 2,917 captive-laid eggs successfully hatched. Survival of 1,135 hatchlings to six months old was 75%, to three years, 69% and to ten years, 43%. Hatching failures were mainly caused by infertility and death during incubation, whilst mortality was caused mainly by trauma and disease. This study also describes the impact of artificial insemination and incubation, discussed in ‘Artificially incubate and hand-rear birds in captivity’.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
van Heezik Y. & Ostrowski S. (2001) Conservation breeding for reintroductions: assessing survival in a captive flock of houbara bustards. Animal Conservation, 4, 195-201.
A review (van Heezik et al. 2002) of the same project found that the number of eggs laid by females ranged from approximately two (for five-year-old first-time breeders) to 8.5 (for four-year-old females that had bred before). The number of eggs laid increased with breeding experience and, although no comparisons were made to productivity in wild bustards in this study, other studies suggest that wild females normally lay between one and four eggs.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
van Heezik Y., Jalme M.S., Hemon S. & Sedddon P. (2002) Temperature and egg-laying experience influence breeding performance of captive female houbara bustards. Journal of Avian Biology (formerly Ornis Scandinavica 1970-1993), 33, 63-70.

Please cite as:

Williams, D.R., Child, M.F., Dicks, L.V., Ockendon, N., Pople, R.G., Showler, D.A., Walsh, J.C., zu Ermgassen, E.K.H.J. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Bird Conservation. Pages 137-281 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bird Conservation

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
Use captive breeding to increase or maintain populations of bustards Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	4	Synopsis Link
Artificially incubate and hand-rear raptors in captivity Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	10	Synopsis Link
Use captive breeding to increase or maintain populations of storks and ibises Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	4	Synopsis Link