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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 PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 13 2017, @02:23AM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday December 13 2017, @02:23AM (#609056)

    I may have phrased that badly, I meant it's head was bigger than a horses head, not the whole horse.

    I have no doubt it would have had no problem defending itself if it had to, and plenty of birds defend their young, so yes, potentially very dangerous.

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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday December 13 2017, @04:08AM

    by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday December 13 2017, @04:08AM (#609082)

    Less entertaining, but I still wouldn't want to be stuck alone with one that hadn't eaten in several days...