INTRODUCTION

The translocation of organisms is defined as human-mediated movement of living organisms from one area, with release in another (IUCN 2012). Translocated animals must go through a process that their evolutionary history has not prepared them for. They are transported from their native range, often boxed and/or sedated and/or blindfolded, placed in a completely unfamiliar landscape and, in the case of captive-bred animals, altogether a completely novel environment. Surviving the translocation process depends to a large extent on the individual's behavior and decision-making during the time following the release. This behavior is a derivative of the species’ evolutionary history, the individual's past experience, and conditions during transfer and at the release site. Most importantly, if the animal is capable of learning (and most translocated animals have at least some learning capabilities), this behavior will change as the animal gains experience in its new environment. This change can be termed “post release behavioral modification” (PRBM; Berger-Tal & Saltz 2014). Barring the case of ecological traps (see Chapter 4), as knowledge accumulates over time, behaviors will be modified accordingly to become more adaptive. Thus, PRBM is expected to increase the future fitness of the translocated animal. The novel environment dictates a need for rapid learning, while minimizing risk (the extent of which is unknown to a newly released animal). The need to learn a novel environment is most probably stressful (Dickens et al. 2010), making the animals susceptible to other types of threat, such as diseases (Harrington et al. 2013) and predators (Griffin et al. 2000). A key goal of the manager is, therefore, to shorten as much as possible the time necessary for the animals to become well acquainted with their new environment and learn to obtain resources while minimizing risk.

“Conservation translocations” are translocations carried out for conservation purposes (IUCN 2012). Such translocations can be categorized according to the area into which the organisms are released. The term “population restoration” embraces any conservation translocation to site within the taxon's indigenous range and comprises two types of releases: (1) Reinforcement – intentional movement and release of an organism into an existing population of conspecifics to enhance the viability of the extant population.