WELCOME TO THE GRUIFORMES TAXON ADVISORY GROUP (gruiTAG) PAGES!

What is a Taxon Advisory Group (TAG)?

Established by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association in 1990, TAGs examine the conservation needs of entire taxa, or groups of related species. Examples of some basic taxonomic groups for which AZA TAGs exist are amphibians, felids, penguins, and marine fish.

Each TAG consists of representatives from AZA-member institutions, as well as individuals with special expertise, such as AZA Species Survival PlanŽ (SSP) coordinators, studbook keepers

What do TAGs do?

Serving as committees of expert advisors, Taxon Advisory Groups assist in the selection of appropriate species for AZA conservation programs and provide a forum for discussing husbandry, veterinary, ethical and other issues that apply to entire taxa. Through regional collection planning, they recommend species for new AZA studbooks, SSPs and other zoo- and aquarium-based programs; establish priorities for management, research and conservation; and recruit qualified individuals to carry out these activities.

In addition, TAGs examine animal management techniques based on scientific studies and assist SSP coordinators in developing animal care and husbandry guidelines. Purposely organized along the same lines as the specialist groups of the IUCN-The World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission (SSC) and Bird Life International's Taxonomic Specialist Groups, TAGs also promote cooperation and sharing of information between AZA and other regional and international conservation programs.

http://www.aza.org/ConScience/ConScienceTAGFact/

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What are Gruiformes?
The diverse order Gruiformes contains a considerable number of living and extinct bird families with, on first sight, little in common. Gruiform means "crane-like." Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that did not seem to belong to any other order were classified together as Gruiformes. These include, the very large cranes, or the relatively small and secretive water-loving crakes and rails (families with a wide distribution and a dozen or more member species), as well as a variety of very small families, some of them containing very few species, such as the Heliornithidae, the limpkin, or the trumpeters. On first sight, the Gruiformes seem to have little in common with one another because they are morphologically diverse. However, anatomical evidence indicates that several groups within the traditional Gruiformes do appear to be evolutionarily related, and this is further supported by molecular analyses. Other birds have been placed in this order more out of necessity to place them somewhere; this has caused the expanded Gruiformes to to lack distinctive apomorphies. Luckily for phylogeneticists, more recent studies indicate that these "odd Gruiformes" are if at all only loosely related to the cranes, rails, and relatives ("core Gruiformes"). A notable feature in several gruiform lineages is that flighlessness evolves far more easily than in most other birds. About one-third of the extinct families were at least partially flightless, and numerous living and extinct flightless rails are known.

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Chair: Fred Beall
Franklin Park Zoo
fbeall@zoonewengland.com

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GRUIFORMES TAG WORKSHOP AGENDA
March 5, 2008
Birmingham, AL - AZA COnference

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JOIN THE GRUIFORMES DISCUSSION BOARD!

Topics: medical, husbandry, etc.

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A big THANKS to Noel Snyder from the Little Rock Zoo
for supporting the GruiTAG website by donating money
for the domain name annual fees.