Breeding rare animals in captivity is only a second best but essential if they cannot be preserved in the wild, and in this zoos have an important part to play. Richard Fitter, hon. secretary of the Fauna Preservation Society, describes some of the most successful captive breeding programmes so far—Pére David's deer, European bison, Przewalski wild horse and Arabian oryx—and urges zoos to give serious attention now to the more difficult tasks of breeding primates and carnivores, of which several species, notably orang utans and the larger apes are endangered. He also suggests that zoos should anticipate the day when species now common become rare by establishing captive breeding programmes that would make them self-supporting in these animals.

In 1961 the Arabian oryx was in such danger that the only hope for its survival seemed to lie in capturing sufficient animals to start a breeding herd in captivity from which eventually some could be returned to the wild. The Fauna Preservation Society, aided by the World Wildlife Fund, organised Operation Oryx, and under the leadership of Major Grimwood, then Chief Game Warden in Kenya, three animals were captured. These, together with some from the very few in captivity, were sent to Phoenix Zoo in Arizona for stage two of the operation, the breeding of a stock, which is now going on successfully. Stage three, the return to the wild, still lies ahead. Describing the capture expedition, Major Grimwood emphasises the immense interest it aroused, which brought help from six governments, five zoos, scores of societies and clubs, hundreds of individuals, and several oil and other companies, including an electricity company in Kenya which emptied its showroom of ovens in order to heat the oryx's quarantine quarters to save them from the cold.

The Curator of Reptiles at the San Diego Zoo describes a successful captive breeding programme—after a difficult start—with a highly endangered species. By the beginning of this century the huge daughter of Galapagos tortoises, mostly by sailors in need of fresh meat on board ship, had dangerously reduced their numbers, and the destruction has been continued since by the predators introduced by settlers and visitors—rats, cats, dogs and pigs which preyed on the eggs and young, and goats which competed with the tortoises for food. The first successful hatching of tortoises at San Diego Zoo took place in October, 1958, but fertility is very low, and the author concludes that the tortoises have never reproduced in substantial numbers because, for various reasons, they do not need to do so, and that they are probably incapable of doing so.

For too long zoos have been regarded as places of entertainment where people go to laugh at the animals. But the modern zoo has important functions to fill and must take its place as a scientific and cultural institution beside the museum and the research station. The author, editor of the International Zoo Yearbook, suggests that zoos have three main functions: firstly, educational, where their opportunity is enormous — 150 million people a year go to see the half-million vertebrate animals in the 500 zoos and aquaria listed in the Yearbook; secondly as repositories of data about wild animals; thirdly, as breeding centres for endangered species. She believes that a united organised breeding programme, using large units and with each zoo specialising in certain animals, could save many endangered species.

The history of wildlife conservation in Africa is one of dwindling animal populations and shrinking habitats, and the southern white or square-lipped rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum simum became one of the rarest large mammals in Africa. This paper, on which the author's address at San Diego was based, describes one of the most successful operations in wildlife conservation, the build-up n i numbers of the white rhino and the re-population of some of its former range, thanks largely to the use of immobilising drugs. Ian Player, who played a major part in the operations, is Chief Conservator of Zululand.

In Colombia, in South America, the biggest drain on some wildlife species is the international pet trade. For every quetzal or cock-of-the-rock that reaches its destination alive, fifty die, and whole populations are being exterminated, says Dr. Lehmann, who is Director General of the Valle State Museum of Natural History. The skin trade, urged on by the need for foreign exchange, is another serious drain. National Parks are the only hope in Colombia as elsewhere, but the importing countries, such as the USA and these of western Europe, could do much to reduce the trade in both pets and skins.