Let’s Go Wild – Episode 4
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Let’s Go Wild
In this week’s Let’s Go Wild, Rachel and Ashley uncover the mystery behind the topic of breeding. In Galloway Wildlife Park, breeding is important due to the animals in Galloway Wildlife Park being endangered. By ensuring animals are happy in their natural habitat. John Denerley makes sure that his animals are happy in their environment for the chances of breeding to increase.
Environment is important to breeding as animals do no like breeding in captivity such as Red Pandas. A breeding programme enforced by zoos or wildlife parks is important as it ensures that animals are bred with the correct mate.
Breeding is a very sensitive issue as animals need to be made comfortable in their environment before they move on to the breeding stage. Can you think of what is needed to make a happy habitat for Red Pandas, who are notoriously difficult to breed?
When a zoo keeper decides to take the natural breeding route, he passes on the genetic information for these variations to their offspring. Species gradually evolve in this way. This process is called natural selection. Natural selection is when, within a population of animals, plants or any living organisms, there will be inherited variations. Within each species the individuals with the variations best suited to the environment will survive better than the others. More of them will survive to reproduce than the others. When they do, they pass on the genetic information for these variations to their offspring.
Whereas artificial selection is when people use selective breeding to produce new varieties of a species. A variety is a type of a particular species that is different in some clear way from other varieties of that species.
For example, pedigree dogs come in lots of different varieties, called breeds of dog. They may be different colours and sizes, but they are all still dogs. They are all still the same species. Different varieties of dog have been produced by selective breeding.
See if you can make a list of animals who are now extinct?
