Ueno Zoo is running the Tokyo Metropolitan Zoo and Aquarium Winter Campaign Visit Hot Zoo 2019 As part of this initiative, an event themed "Let's take a look at Japan's creatures - what's so amazing about them!!" Ueno de Nippon! We are holding the event.

In conjunction with this event, which focuses on animals living in Japan, we are introducing Ueno Zoo 's efforts to protect Rock Ptarmigan in several installments.

The 4th installment: To protect Rock Ptarmigan in Japan

The first Rock Ptarmigan were kept at Ueno Zoo in 1889. Records show that keeping Rock Ptarmigan ptarmigan in low-lying areas was extremely difficult, and many died quickly.
The Omachi Mountain Museum in Nagano Prefecture was the only facility in Japan to successfully breed and raise Rock Ptarmigan ptarmigan for extended periods, from 1963 to 2004. Rock Rock Ptarmigan, which live in high-altitude areas where bacterial activity is suppressed, are susceptible to infectious diseases, so sterilizing the sand and disinfecting the area around the enclosure were particularly necessary during their rearing.

Due to the decline in the wild population, the Ministry of the Environment upgraded Rock Ptarmigan status on the Red List from Category II (Vulnerable) to Category IB (Endangered) in 2012. In particular, the Rock Ptarmigan population in the Southern Alps is at risk of extinction if the current situation continues, and urgent measures are needed. Therefore, in the same year, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries jointly formulated a Rock Ptarmigan conservation and breeding project plan. The plan aims to protect wild Rock Ptarmigan Rock Ptarmigan while simultaneously breeding them in captivity and eventually reintroducing them to their natural habitat.

Similar plans have been developed for Oriental White Stork and Crested Ibis. Unfortunately, wild populations of both species have become extinct, but Japanese Oriental White Stork and Japanese Crested Ibis from China, which are the same subspecies as the Japanese ones, have been bred in zoos and breeding facilities and are now being reintroduced into the wild.
In order to breed Japanese Rock Ptarmigan in captivity, we decided to utilize research findings obtained from the rearing of a different subspecies, the Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan ptarmigan.


"Kin," the last Japanese crested Crested Ibis
◎ "Ueno Zoo 's efforts to protect Rock Ptarmigan"
・ Part 1: "What kind of bird is Rock Ptarmigan?"
・ The second installment: "Japanese Rock Ptarmigan and Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan"
・ Part 3: "Why are Rock Ptarmigan declining?"
・The 4th installment (this article)
・ The 5th installment: "An experiment at Ueno Zoo"
・ The 6th installment: "Regarding the Public Display Rock Ptarmigan"
◎Related articles
・ We will be releasing images of the Japanese Rock Rock Ptarmigan. (February 1, 2019)

(March 2, 2019)
(March 11, 2019: Added links up to the final installment [Part 6] of the series)