Abstract
Conservation translocation (CT) — the movement and release of organisms for conservation benefit — has been part of the conservation toolbox for over a hundred years. In the past 20 years, there has been a rise in the number of species being translocated, accompanied by a parallel flourishing of the CT-related scientific literature. In this Perspective, we explore factors that have shaped the application of animal CT and consider the implications of several important current and emerging challenges. The practice of CT has matured from one-off single-species projects, often implemented with little planning, to multi-species programmes supported by rigorous planning and robust scientific input. Increasingly, CT forms a key component of successful trophic rewilding projects, although the growing number of translocations in mitigation and rehabilitation programmes remains contentious. Despite a taxonomic bias towards birds and mammals, CT projects focusing on other taxa are growing, although translocation of microbiota remains rare. Assessing CT success remains problematic, but by many measures success rates have improved, with more-ambitious and higher-risk CT projects being contemplated, such as releases into modified and non-wild areas, for both social and biodiversity gains. The rapid development of new genomic tools, including the prospect of species ‘de-extinction’, provides both opportunities and new challenges for CT.