The Mill Mountain Zoo, as a member of AZA,( The Association of Zoos and Aquariums), participates in many cooperative breeding and management programs, the goal of which is to maintain a high level of genetic diversity within a species’ captive population. It is hoped that this close attention to detail within a species’ population will allow zoos to become banks or reservoirs of genetic information, so if needed, we can explore future release programs for these species.
Number of Species: Mammals: 52 Birds : 36 Reptiles : 12 Amphibians: 7 Invertebrates: 3
An AZA Species Survival PLAN® (SSP) Program strives to manage and conserve a select and typically threatened or endangered, ex situ species population with the cooperation of AZA-accredited institutions. SSP programs develop a Breeding and Transfer Plan that identifies population management goals and recommendations to ensure the sustainability of a healthy, genetically diverse. and demographically varied population.
Mill Mountain Zoo’s SSP species® include: Asian Small Clawed Otter, Nicobar Pigeon, Luzon Bleeding Heart Dove, Black Naped Fruit Dove, Blue Bellied Roller, Masked Lapwing, Scarlot Ibis, Canadian Lynx, Snow Leopard, Golden Breasted Starling, Prehensile Tailed Skink, Red Panda, Japanese Macaque, Red Wolf, Burmese Mountain Tortoise, Western Tufted Deer.
