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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday December 12 2017, @04:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the their-genes-should-have-worked-out-more dept.

Tasmanian tigers were suffering from poor genetic diversity prior to being hunted to extinction by humans:

Australian scientists sequenced the genome of the native marsupial, also known as the thylacine. It showed the species, alive until 1936, would have struggled to survive even without human contact. The research also provides further insights into the marsupial's unique appearance.

"Even if we hadn't hunted it to extinction, our analysis showed that the thylacine was in very poor [genetic] health," said lead researcher Dr Andrew Pask, from the University of Melbourne. "The population today would be very susceptible to diseases, and would not be very healthy."

He said problems with genetic diversity could be traced back as far as 70,000 years ago, when the population is thought to have suffered due to a climatic event.

The researchers sequenced the genome from a 106-year-old specimen held by Museums Victoria. They said their study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, is one of the most complete genetic blueprints of an extinct species.

Genome of the Tasmanian tiger provides insights into the evolution and demography of an extinct marsupial carnivore (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0417-y) (DX)

Related: Huge Population and Lack of Genetic Diversity Killed Off the Passenger Pigeon


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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:34PM (1 child)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:34PM (#608946)

    Genetically speaking, humans are also extremely non-diverse. By all rights, we should be going extinct. Unfortunately, we don't have any real predators.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:38PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:38PM (#608950) Journal

    Unfortunately, we don't have any real predators.

    Anti-humanist spotted.

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