State Conservation

The Detroit Zoo participates with local Michigan conservation programs focusing on such species as the trumpeter swan.

Since 1985, The Detroit Zoo has been working with the trumpeter swan reintroduction program. This species was once native to Michigan but was hunted to extinction by the beginning of the 20th century. The Zoo, in cooperation with the Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station, has donated trumpeter swan adults, cyngets, and eggs to the reintroduction program.

The program also acquired eggs from other zoos and from wild trumpeter swans in Alaska. Once hatched, the cygnets are held for one to two years at the Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station were they are conditioned for release. They are then released in wetland areas in both the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan.

This method has proven successful; 1992 marked the first wild trumpeter swan hatching in Michigan since the 1800´s. Several other released swans have produced young since then, including some that were hatched at the Detroit Zoo.