Threatened turtles and tortoises (Testudines) in zoos: A ZIMS database analysis for improved One Plan Approach to Conservation actions

Turtles and tortoises are one of the world’s most threatened vertebrates; more than half of the 352 currently recognised species are threatened. To implement the IUCN CPSG’s One Plan Approach to Conservation, we herein analyse the available information from the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) to provide an overview of the species already held in zoos. A total of 252 species (71.6%) are currently kept in ZIMS institutions, with 138 of them listed as threatened (76.7% of all threatened turtles). Additional 26 (15 threatened) species are listed in the database Zootierliste (Zoo Animal List). Zoos keep 152 (84.4%) of 180 threatened and 110 out of 150 not threatened species and show a preference for keeping threatened species. Concerning threatened turtle species, nine are represented with more than 500 individuals in zoo collections, while 25 are only kept as single individuals or in same-sex-groups. More than half of the held species are only represented in one to ten zoos. Most species are kept in North America, Europe and Asia, where most of the
ZIMS institutions are located. A total of 92 (59 threatened) species (37.1 % of all zoo-kept species) were successfully bred in 140 zoos (15.8 % of 888 ZIMS-institutions keeping turtles) in the last 12 months. There already exists a tendency towards breeding threatened species. Still, zoos could improve both conservation breeding networking and establish further conservation breeding programs to create reserve populations, which would be in broad fulfilment with the IUCN’s One Plan
Approach to Conservation.