EEP logo

Breeding Programmes



EAZA presently has two different levels of breeding programme:
  • EEP: European Endangered species Programme
  • ESB: European StudBook
The regional collection plans of the TAGs identify which type of programme has been assigned to which species of animal. For a complete overview of all species that are managed through an EEP or ESB, click here.

EEP

The EEP is the most intensive type of population management for a species kept in EAZA zoos. Each EEP has a coordinator (someone with a special interest in and knowledge of the species concerned, who is working in an EAZA zoo or aquarium). He or she is assisted by a Species Committee.

The coordinator has many
tasks to fulfill, such as collecting information on the status of all the animals of the species for which he or she is responsible kept in EAZA zoos and aquaria, producing a studbook, carrying out demographical and genetical analyses, and producing a plan for the future management of the species.
Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridacytla) EEP
Together with the Species Committee, recommendations are made each year on which animals should breed or not breed, which individual animals should go from one zoo to another, and so on. This is much work, and EAZA is fortunate that so many people in so many EAZA zoos have taken on such a complicated task.

ESB

The ESB is less intensive than the EEP programme. The studbook keeper who is responsible for a certain ESB collects all the data on births, deaths, transfers etc. from all the EAZA zoos that keep the species in question. These data are entered in special
computer software programmes, which allows the studbook keeper to carry out analyses of the population of that species. EAZA zoos may ask the studbook keepers for recommendations on breeding or transfers.
Marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus) ESB

By collecting and analysing all the relevant information on the species, the studbook keeper can judge if it is doing well in EAZA zoos, or if maybe a more rigid management is needed to maintain a healthy population over the long term. In that case, the studbook keeper may propose that the species be managed as an EEP programme.