Photo: Rolling Plains Quail Research RanchĪnother theory is that being raised in captivity means pen birds do not develop the necessary behaviors and survival skills essential for life in the wild. It seems there is little evidence for genetic differences causing low survival in pen-raised birds.Ī dead bobwhite quail hen. Both studies found that the survival rates of F1 and pen-raised birds were almost identical (Roseberry et al. But even if pen-raised birds are not lacking genetic diversity, could wild quail have some unknown genetic advantage? Two studies examined this question by crossing pen-raised quail with wild ones, producing what is known as F1 offspring, and comparing their survival to purebred pen-raised quail. (1988), found that the genetic variability in pen-raised bobwhites was not notably deficient, and they did not display high levels of inbreeding compared to wild quail. One theory is that pen-raised quail are not as genetically vigorous as their wild counterparts due to inbreeding. Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife. But why don’t these pen-raised quail last in the wild? There are two main theories-let’s explore each further.Īn example of a state quail hatchery. In a radio-telemetry study in south Texas, researchers found that half of their pen-raised birds perished only 9 days after release by 12 weeks, all of them had died (Perez et al. However, it soon became apparent that no matter how many quail were released, their survival rate across most areas and habitat types within their U.S. Tens of millions of pen-raised quail were released by state wildlife agencies, with some even building their own hatcheries in the belief that it would take many years for wild populations to recover (Gerstell 1938, Anonymous 1942, Hernández et al. It began in the 1930s as an attempt to bolster declining populations throughout the southeastern U.S., and the practice was attractive to both wildlife biologists and landowners searching for a simple fix to the quail problem. The history and practice of releasing pen-raised quail is almost 100 years old.
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