New study of endangered pacific pocket mice provides valuable genetic insights
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 - 16:10
in Biology & Nature
In breeding programs aimed at conserving animals from small or isolated populations, scientists must balance the competing needs of adding genetic diversity and avoiding the introduction of harmful genes. This makes for a delicate task of boosting diversity in the endangered Pacific pocket mouse, the focus of a long-running conservation breeding program undertaken by San Diego Zoo Global. There are just three remaining populations of this species in the wild, all of which are small and isolated from each other on the Southern California coast—preventing beneficial interbreeding and making inbreeding more likely.