WHEN A ZOOS Victoria team had difficulties breeding some of their critically endangered mountain pygmy-possums, they decided to investigate the animals’ hormone levels. A lot is known about hormones in humans and domestic animals, but it was the first time anyone had looked at pygmy-possum hormones – and, in fact, one of the first times a non-invasive hormone approach had been used in any marsupial conservation program.
It was a serendipitous moment that ultimately fuelled a revolutionary new Melbourne-based program now helping to save some of Australia’s most endangered creatures from extinction, by applying the scientific discipline of wildlife endocrinology. At the program’s helm are two reproductive biologists who were on that original team: Dr Marissa Parrott, Senior Conservation Biologist in the Wildlife Conservation and Science team at Zoos Victoria, and Dr Kerry Fanson, who leads the Wildlife Conservation and Reproductive Endocrinology Lab (WiCRE)at Melbourne’s La Trobe University.
Wildlife endocrinology is simply the study of hormones in wild animals, and during the past two decades it has successfully underpinned breeding programs for many exotic species – from tigers and
