Cheetah Genetics – Part I of IV

by "The Librarian" on March 9, 2010


ccf’s Dr. Laurie Marker interviews Dr. Stephen O’Brien, Chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity and head of the Section of Genetics, National Cancer Institute. Along with students, fellows and colleagues, Dr. O’Brien developed the discipline of Conservation Genetics by describing the remarkable genetic uniformity of the African cheetah, a prelude to genetic assessment of endangered species. Copyright: Cheetah Conservation Fund, 2005.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

LeopardFrogPilboxhat March 9, 2010 at 9:22 am

@iamhewho

They do. They have marked differences in sperm viability. They seem to not have encountered all of the symptoms of inbreeding depression though.

They might have gotten lucky do to their historical legacy and properties that we don’t know about.

The fact is though that they DID survive and find some refuge. They might have some protective factors already in place.

Their real problems now are being killed by lions/leopards and habitat encroachment by humans

iamhewho March 9, 2010 at 10:10 am

if all cheetahs are inbred why do they not show health signs of this? or do they? have any cheetah fossils been found to prove they didnt originate in africa? i heard a theory that cheetahs are the first domesticated animals breeded to hunt, and that the bottle neck theory has no grounds. any thoughts anyone?

105km March 9, 2010 at 10:38 am

cheetahs are my favorite! Hes right! In many videos I hear that competition with other predators is cousing the cheetahs extinction. But think – the cheetah number has only fallen since 1900, and then there were even more other predators. So its not nature thats killing the cheetah population, its humans and only humans

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