Mountain bongos, one of the largest and rarest species of antelope in the world, are endemic to Kenya. However, so few of the animals remain in their native habitat that the Kenyan government has launched an ambitious effort to gather the animals from zoos and conservancies worldwide to restore the species in the wild. As […]
  • Gloria@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    3 days ago

    Can someone with more biological background correct me, but I once read that if a species drops below ~250 in population, that it is basically already eradicated. The remaining genpool is not diverse enough to develop further and stagnates on inbreeding when it dips below a certain threshold.

    • Cort@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 days ago

      That rings a bell, but I thought there were some ways around it with highly selective breeding programs, and/or mixing in the genes of a closely related species (if one exists & is interbreedable)