Question

Considering zoo populations of lions, how can parentage information be helpful?

Answer 1

Answer:

By Budhan Pukazhenthi, SCBI Scientist

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species, often considered the world authority on wildlife populations, lists African lions as vulnerable. “Vulnerable” is a classification that is not as extreme as “endangered,” “critically endangered” or “extinct,” but denotes that wild lion populations throughout the world are on the decline. As a result, it is important that healthy lion populations be managed in zoos as hedge against extinction.

Explanation:

Answer 2

The importance of getting to know the parentage information is to avoid inbreeding events as much as possible and increase genetic diversity -heterozygosity-.

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There are many challenges associated with captivity, and one of them is related to maintaining genetic diversity in the population, following the ex-situ conservation goal.

When selecting the animals to be kept in captivity, it is significant to consider a few aspects concerning genetic diversity maintenance. The main goal is to prioritize the original genetic material. Introducing a few animals of a species into the zoo might be considered an example of the founder effect. Just a pregnant female is enough for it to occur. And the most significant problem associated with this event is the loss the genetic diversity or variability. When breeding animals in captivity, there is a high risk of losing some genes and fixating others due to inbreeding.

An increase in inbreeding events means a significant reduction in genetic diversity, leading to a reduction in the fitness of individuals.

Inbreeding can be defined as mating events between related individuals. These events lead to an increase in the frequency of h0m0zyg0us individuals and a decrease in heter0zyg0us individuals. It means the loss of genetic variability. So, inbreeding is going on whenever the zygotes are formed by gametes proceeding from biologically related individuals.

In general, inbreeding occurs in small isolated populations and is closely related to the loss of aptitude. A reduction in population fitness might eventually end in its extinction.

In zoos, the importance of getting to know the parentage information is to avoid these inbreeding events as much as possible and try to enhance diversity -heterozygosity-. Knowing genetic information about parental animals is an important tool to manage crosses, avoiding genetic problems, and increasing genetic diversity.  

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