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| Location: |
Asia - East Asia - Vietnam |
| Subject: |
Genetics |
| Species: |
Javan Rhino |
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Much emphasis is placed on inbreeding depression in small populations. While the effects of inbreeding depression are real, they are often transitory in nature and not all small populations are doomed. contrary to what some zoos would have us believe. The effects of inbreeding depression can be minimised if numbers recover quickly from bottlenecks. The population of about 40 wild cattle at Chillingham in northern England is fit and thriving after some 800 years (about 120 generations) of continuous inbreeding, which has included bottlenecks of one female and one male in 1760 following an epidemic, and eight females and five males in 1947 following an arctic winter. Equally striking is the case of the collared lizards of the Ozarks where colonies of about 40 animals have experienced 4,000 years (about 2,000 generations) of inbreeding.
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Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam
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