British Sign Language Glossaries of Curriculum Terms

BSL Environmental Science Glossary - Ex-situ conservation definition

Definition: The animal is taken out of their original environment and looked after in another area to ensure its survival. The animal is being conserved in an area that is not its natural habitat. These areas are set up for endangered species to help breeding to ensure the survival of the species. The young can then be transferred to other conservation areas to continue breeding, like this animal behind me. This is the Lowland Anoa, a wild bovid that lives in wild forests. It has straight horns pointing backwards, there are only about 1000 left in the wild on an island in Indonesia. It has come to set up home here, as I explained earlier, in an ex-situ conservation site. It's not doing well in its original habitat, so it's been taken into conservation sites and is now doing better. The breeding pair here have successfully produced young which have then gone on to be transferred to other areas as part of a breeding programme. This is how a species can have its numbers increased so it can eventually successfully go back in the wild as evidenced by our successful example of Lowland Anoas.