Spartaco Gippoliti,
Volume 1, Issue 1 (9-2019)
Abstract
Over the past decades, zoos and aquaria have shifted from an emphasis on ex situ conservation of animal species to strategies that emphasize educative and fund-raising efforts to halt environmental degradation ‘in situ’. However, it is here proposed that ‘ex situ’ breeding programs have a strong educative potential and if they are coupled with a fine-grain taxonomy based on phylogenetic thinking, they can be perceived as a strong ethical message against homogenization of global biodiversity to be directed at global, national and local levels.
Spartaco Gippoliti, Manuela Lai, Giuliano Milana,
Volume 2, Issue 2 (6-2020)
Abstract
Recent conservation history of Cervus corsicanus Erxleben, 1777 is reviewed and future prospects discussed in the framework of increasing knowledge of its evolutionary history. This unique deer is definitively not native to Sardinia and Corsica but owes its survival to a protohistoric assisted colonization by humans. Accordingly, populations in Sardinia (and Corsica) should be managed to maintain maximum genetic diversity while minimizing ecological and economic damages in an unbalanced island ecosystem that must be perceived as “ex situ” from the evolutionary history of the deer. It is increasingly important that steps are taken to reintroduce Cervus corsicanus back to the Italian Peninsula.
Spartaco Gippoliti ,
Volume 4, Issue 1 (3-2022)
Abstract
Many users of taxonomic lists believe them to be based on consistent data, but this is rarely true, and biased knowledge may be the rule rather than the exception. In the present essay on the taxonomy of primates of the Horn of Africa, I show how taxonomic history has consequences for the present appreciation of primate diversity in the region, and thus in directing conservation efforts. To minimize future losses, it is necessary that international bodies recognize taxonomic checklists as works in progress, eventually encouraging further integrated approaches to taxa delimitation.
Spartaco Gippoliti, Dario Fraschetti, Osman Gedow Amir, Francesco M. Angelici,
Volume 4, Issue 2 (6-2022)
Abstract
There is an increased recognition of the threat status of the African lion (Panthera leo), once a widespread top predator of open African habitats. However, our knowledge about the biology of the species is often based on a few study sites in South and East Africa, and the present subspecific taxonomy developed by the IUCN reinforces an idea of homogeneity of the species in Africa. A synthesis of available knowledge regarding the lions of Southern Somalia, formerly proposed as a distinct subspecies, Panthera leo somaliensis is presented. Particular attention is paid to the issue of manelessness in males, a phenomenon that has been studied in Tsavo (N.E. Kenya) but it is highlighted for the first time for the Southern Somalia region. Although our data cannot lead to a definitive answer about the taxonomic status of Somali lions, there is enough evidence to call for further studies and conservation efforts, also in the light of the increased evidence of genetic discontinuity in lions associated with strong ecological barriers.
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