Like in-situ conservation, ex-situ conservation is an age old practice. Man has been breeding plants and animals under his care from times immemorial for various purposes, a practice which is basically the strategy of ex-situ conservation. However, these captive breeding were rarely done for the purpose of wild life conservation.
Today captive breeding and maintenance of wild animals and plants have become a very important method of conserving some of the characteristic and important life forms. The application of advance scientific methods and technology has transformed the process into a well organized discipline of science. The strategy of ex-situ conservation involves:
1. Identification of species to be conserved.
2. The methods of ex-situ conservation.