The American Species Survival Plan (SSP) program was developed in 1981 by the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wild.

SSP program SSP programs focus on animals that are near threatened, threatened, endangered, or otherwise in danger of extinction in the wild, when zoo and zoology conservationists believe captive breeding programs will aid in their chances of survival."Species Survival Plans help preserve wildlife" on the Central Florida Zoo website. These programs help maintain healthy and genetically diverse animal populations within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoo community."Species Survival Plan" on PBS NOVA Online. AZA accredited zoos and AZA conservation partners that are involved in SSP programs engage in cooperative population management and conservation efforts that include research, conservation genetics, public education, reintroduction, and in situ or field conservation projects. The process for selecting recommended species is guided by Taxon Advisory Groups, whose sole objective is to curate Regional Collection Plans for the conservation needs of a species and how AZA institutions will cooperate to reach those needs. Today, there are almost 300 existing SSP programs. The SSP has been met with widespread success in ensuring that, should a species population become functionally extinct in its natural habitat, a viable population still exists within a zoological setting. This has also led to AZA species reintroduction programs, examples of which include the black-footed ferret, the California condor, the northern riffleshell, the golden lion tamarin, the Karner blue butterfly, the Oregon spotted frog, the palila finch, the red wolf, and the Wyoming toad.

SSP master plan An SSP master plan is a document produced by the SSP coordinator (generally a zoo professional under the guidance of an elected management committee) for a certain species. This document sets ex situ population goals and other management recommendations to achieve the maximum genetic diversity and demographic stability for a species, given transfer and space constraints.

See also European Endangered Species Programme

List of SSP programs As of 2025, there are 295 species that are a part of the Species Survival Plan program.While these are called Species Survival Plan programs, some animals on this list are subspecies. Other animal names on this list are not the commonly used name, however they are the official name of their respective SSP program.

Aardvark Addax Agouti, Brazilian Alligator, Chinese Anaconda, Green Anteater, Giant Antelope, Roan Antelope, Sable Aracari, Curl-Crested Aracari, Green Argus, Great Armadillo, Screaming Armadillo, Six-banded Armadillo, Southern three-banded Ass, Somali wild Avocet, American Babirusa, North Sulawesi Baboon, Hamadryas Barbet, Red-and-yellow Bat, Egyptian fruit Bat, Rodrigues fruit Bat, Straw-colored fruit Bear, Andean spectacled Bear, Sloth Beaver, American Binturong Bird-of-paradise, Raggiana Bluebird, Fairy Boa, Jamaican Bongo, Eastern Bonobo Bushbaby, Mohol Cacique, Yellow-rumped Callimico Capybara Cardinal, Red-capped Cassowary, Southern (double-wattled) Cat, Pallas Cat, Sand Cheetah Chimpanzee Chuckwalla, San Esteban Cobra, King Colobus, Angolan Colobus, Guereza Condor, Andean Coua, Crested Crane, Black crowned Crane, Demoiselle Crane, Grey crowned Crane, Red crowned Crane, Wattled Crane, White-naped Curassow, Blue-billed Curassow, Helmeted Deer, Western tufted Dikkop, Spotted Dog, African painted Dove, Beautiful fruit Dove, Black-naped fruit Dove, Luzon bleeding heart Dove, Mindanao bleeding heart Dragon, Komodo Duck, Spotted whistling Duck, West Indian whistling Duiker, Blue Duiker, Yellow-backed Elephant, African Elephant, Asian Flamingo, Caribbean Flamingo, Chilean Flamingo, Greater Flamingo, Lesser Fossa Fox, Bat-eared Fox, Fennec Fox, Swift Frog, Panamanian golden (ahogado) Frog, Panamanian Golden (sora) Frogmouth, Tawny Gazelle, Addra Gecko, Giant leaf-tailed Gecko, Henkel's leaf-tailed Gharial, Sunda Gibbon, Lar (white-handed) Gibbon, White-cheeked Giraffe, Generic Giraffe, Masai Goose, African pygmy Goose, Red-breasted Goose, Swan Gorilla, Western Lowland Guineafowl, Crested Hamerkop Heron, Boat-billed Hippopotamus, Pygmy Hippopotamus, River Hog, Red River Honeyeater, Blue-Faced Hornbill, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Red-Billed Hornbill, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Southern Ground Hornbill, Trumpeter Hornbill, Wrinkled Horse, Asian Wild Hwamei, Chinese Hyena, spotted Hyrax, Rock Ibis, African Sacred Ibis, Hadada Ibis, Scarlet Ibis, Waldrapp Iguana, Fiji Banded Iguana, Grand Cayman Blue Iguana, Jamaican Jaguar Jay, Plush Crested Kangaroo, Red Kangaroo, Western Gray Kookaburra, Laughing Kudu, Lesser Langur, Francois' Lapwing, Masked Lapwing, Spur-Winged Laughingthrush, White-Crested Leiothrix, Red-Billed Lemur, Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Collared Lemur, Mongoose Lemur, Red Ruffed Lemur, Ring-Tailed Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Snow Liocichla, Scarlet-Faced Lion Lizard, Caiman Lizard, Chinese crocodile Lizard, Rio Fuerte Beaded Loris, Pygmy Slow Lynx, Canada Macaque, Japanese Macaw, Blue-Throated Macaw, Hyacinth Macaw, Red-Fronted Magpie, Azure-Winged Mandrill Mara, Patagonian Marmoset, Geoffroy's Meerkat Merganser, Scaly-Sided Monitor, Black Tree Monkey, Bolivian Gray Titi Monkey, Common Squirrel Monkey, DeBrazza's Monkey, Mexican Spider Monkey, Robust Black Spider Monkey, Southern Black Howler Motmot, Blue-Crowned Muntjac, Reeves' Myna, Bali Ocelot Okapi Orangutan, Bornean Orangutan, Sumatran Oropendola, Crested Oryx, Scimitar-Horned Otter, Asian Small-Clawed Otter, North American River Owl, Burrowing Owl, Snowy Owl, Spectacled Panda, red (fulgens) Panda, red (refulgens) Partridge, Crested Wood Peccary, Chacoan Pelican, Pink-Backed Penguin, African Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Gentoo (ellsworthi) Penguin, Humboldt Penguin, King Penguin, Magellanic Penguin, Southern Rockhopper Pheasant, Palawan Peacock Pheasant, Vietnam Pigeon, Green-Naped Pheasant Pigeon, Nicobar Pigeon, Victoria Crowned Pochard, Baer's Porcupine, Cape Porcupine, Crested Porcupine, North American Porcupine, Prehensile-Tailed Pudu, Chilean (Southern) Puffin, Tufted Rattlesnake, Aruba Island Rattlesnake, Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, Santa Catalina Island Ray, Spotted Eagle Rhinoceros, Eastern Black Rhinoceros, Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, Southern White Ringtail Roadrunner, Greater Roller, Blue-Bellied Saki, White-Faced Screamer, Southern Sea Lion, California Seahorse, Big Bellied Seahorse, Lined Seal, Harbor Seriema, Red-Legged Serval Shama, White-rumped Shark, Sand Tiger Shark, Zebra Siamang Skink, Prehensile-Tailed Sloth, Hoffman's Two-Toed Sloth, Linne's Two-Toed Snake, Eastern Indigo Spoonbill, African Spoonbill, Roseate Squirrel, Prevost's Starling, Emerald Starling, Golden-Breasted Starling, Violet-Backed (Amethyst) Stilt, Black-Necked Stingray, White-Blotched River Stork, Abdim's (White-Bellied) Stork, Marabou Stork, Saddle-Billed Stork, White Sunbittern Swan, Coscoroba Swan, Trumpeter Takin, Sichuan Tamandua, Southern Tamarin, Bearded Emperor Tamarin, Cotton-Top Tamarin, Golden Lion Tanager, Blue-Grey Tanager, Silver-Beaked Tanager, Turquoise Tapir, Malayan (Asian) Teal, Marbled Tenrec, Lesser Madagascar Hedgehog Tern, Inca Tiger, Amur Tiger, Malayan Tiger, Sumatran Tortoise, African Pancake Tortoise, Brown Forest Tortoise, Burmese Black Tortoise, Burmese Star Tortoise, Egyptian Tortoise, Galapagos (microphyes) Tortoise, Home's Hinge-back Tortoise, Madagascar Flat-Tailed Tortoise, Madagascar spider (Common) Tortoise, Madagascar spider (Northern) Tortoise, Radiated Toucan, Keel-Billed Toucan, Toco Tragopan, Cabot's Tree Kangaroo, Matschie's Tree Shrew, Northern Troupial Trumpeter, Grey-Winged Turaco, Great Blue Turaco, Lady Ross' Turaco, Red-Crested Turaco, Violaceous Turaco, White-Cheeked Turtle, Black-Breasted Leaf Turtle, Blanding's Turtle, Coahuilan Box Turtle, Indochinese Box Turtle, Malaysian Giant Turtle, McCord's Box Turtle, Pan's Box Turtle, Rote Island Snake-Necked Turtle, Spiny Turtle, Spotted Vulture, Cinereous Vulture, King Wallaby, Bennett's (Red-necked) Wallaby, Tammar Wallaroo, Common Warthog, Common Weaver, White-Headed Buffalo Wolf, Maned Woodhoopoe, Green Zebra, Grevy's Zebra, Hartmann's mountain Zebra, Plains

Notes

References

External links AZA website