I think we're dealing with two issues here. The first is the parental defense of the juvenile. The second is the emotional or physical health of the juvenile.



Parental defense may be solely for the purpose of ensuring reproductive success. Because Corucia employ a k-strategy in population growth (slow stable growth curve defined by low reproductive numbers and frequency) they are more likely to provide parental care to ensure that their offspring survive to carry their genes to the next generation.

(And I'd really love to read articles about Corucia behavior in the wild regarding this aspect, so please forward any article references if you have them Brian!)



So if the adults are providing protection solely for "selfish gene" reasons, is there necessarily an emotional impact for the juvenile? I'd have to see some type of negative behavioral or physical effects as a result of early separation to be convinced of this point. I too have seen juveniles separated from adults before they are a year old and have noticed no negative effects. Without evidence of an emotional response I have to chalk Brian's argument up to anthropomorphizing unless someone will present me with evidence to the contrary. I'd be very interested to hear from someone who has experienced deleterious effects caused by early (before 3 years) separation.



That said, I am of the school that we should attempt to reproduce the natural environment as much as possible. If that involves leaving the juveniles in the circulus for 3 years, then I'm not opposed to doing that. But it is vital to know where to draw the line between what is a necessary replication of natural habitat (temps, humidity, lighting, space requirements), and what is not necessary (200 acres of old growth forest, exact replication of native food sources) for the health of the animals.



The fact is that for many reasons it is not possible to perfectly reproduce the natural environment. There may be space restrictions (you simply can't fit a Solomon Islands forest into your living room), safety issues (as James pointed out, adults do occasionaly show agression to juveniles and to one another), or even financial constraints (perhaps restricting cage size and thus how many individuals can be contained in the circulus). Therefore we must determine what is *vital* for the well-being of captive Corucia and what is nice, but "extra".



Because I have not seen, nor heard of, harmful effects (behavioral or physical) as a result of early separation, and have seen juveniles separated prior to one year grow into healthy reproducing adults, I believe that the juvenile response to adult care is non-existent or negligible, and therefore leaving them in the circulus for 3 years is an "extra".



-Z

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