CROSS-FOSTERING

Cross-fostering is the rearing of young by a surrogate mother of a different taxon and is a technique that has been used for several conservation and species manage­ment programs to accelerate reproductive output (Vogel- nest and Portas 2008). It is rarely used as a rearing technique for rescued orphans. Data on cross-fostering are now available for several potoroid and macropodid marsupials (Taggart et al. 2010). This technique provides an alternative for euthanasia for very small unfurred orphans of threatened species (McLelland et al. 2015).

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