# Headstarting

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**Headstarting** is a conservation technique for [endangered species](/source/Endangered_species) in which young animals are raised artificially and subsequently released into the wild. The technique allows a greater proportion of the young to reach independence, without predation or loss to other natural causes.[1][2][3][4]

For endangered birds and [reptiles](/source/Reptile), eggs are collected from the wild are hatched using an [incubator](/source/Incubator_(egg)).[1][2] For [mammals](/source/Mammal) such as [Hawaiian monk seals](/source/Hawaiian_monk_seal), the young are removed from their mothers after [weaning](/source/Weaning).[5]

The technique was trialled on land-based mammals for the first time in Australia. In the three years prior to May 2021, young [bridled nail-tail wallabies](/source/Bridled_nail-tail_wallaby) were placed in a fenced-off area of 10-hectare (25-acre) area within [Avocet Nature Refuge](/source/Avocet_Nature_Refuge) in [Queensland](/source/Queensland). The population, safe from their main predator, [feral cats](/source/Feral_cats_in_Australia), more than doubled over this period.[6]

## References

1. Alberts, Allison; Lemm, Jeffrey; Grant, Tandora; Jackintell, Lori (2004). "Testing the Utility of Headstarting as a Conservation Strategy for West Indian Iguanas". *Iguanas: Biology and Conservation*. [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press). p. 210. ISBN 978-0-520-23854-1.

1. ["Blanding's Turtle Headstart Reintroduction"](http://www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/urbanturtleinitiative.asp)

1. Perez-Buitrago, Nestor (2005), ["Successful Release of Head Start Mona Island Iguanas"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070812112504/http://www.iucn-isg.org/newsletters/pdf/ISG_Bklt_8%281%29.pdf), *Iguana Specialist Group Newsletter*. **8** (1): 6, archived from [the original](http://www.iucn-isg.org/newsletters/pdf/ISG_Bklt_8(1).pdf) on 2007-08-12

1. Pitches, Adrian (March 2018). "Headstarted Godwits relocate to Portugal". *[British Birds](/source/British_Birds_(magazine))*. **111** (3): 128–129.

1. Gerrodette, Tim & Gilmartin William G (1980). ["Demographic consequences of changed pupping and hauling sites of the Hawaiian monk seal"](https://zenodo.org/record/1230657/files/article.pdf). *Conservation Biology*. **4** (4): 423–430. [doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00317.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00317.x). [JSTOR 2385936](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2385936)

1. Jurss-Lewis, Tobias (25 May 2021). ["Hope for wallabies so endangered they were thought to be extinct"](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-25/wallabies-saved/100160612). *ABC News*. [Australian Broadcasting Corporation](/source/Australian_Broadcasting_Corporation). Retrieved 28 May 2021.

## External links

- [Toronto Zoo Blanding's Turtle Headstarting Project](https://www.youtube.com/nTRu_L5zxrs) on YouTube
- [Video](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2012/jul/13/spoon-billed-sandpiper-chicks-video) of [Spoon-billed sandpiper](/source/Spoon-billed_sandpiper) chicks at [WWT Slimbridge](/source/WWT_Slimbridge). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*, July 2012.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Headstarting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headstarting) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headstarting?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.