Maintaining the genetic health of putative Barbary lions in captivity: an analysis of Moroccan Royal Lions
Maintaining the genetic health of putative Barbary lions in captivity: an analysis of Moroccan Royal Lions
复制标题
DOI：
10.1007/s10344-009-0280-5
复制
发表时间：
2010-02-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Groombridge, Jim
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Black, Simon;Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki;Groombridge, Jim
巴巴里狮（Panthera leo leo）曾经在北非数量众多，但在20世纪40年代从野外灭绝，最后的代表被认为是摩洛哥皇家收藏的圈养狮子后裔，全世界动物园的数量不到90只。这些圈养的“皇家狮子”的遗传适应性现在可能受到威胁，因为尽管大多数动物园避免与其他来源的动物杂交，但目前没有正式的繁殖计划，一些机构已经停止了繁殖活动。之所以出现这种情况，是因为巴巴里狮子的独特性和皇家狮子的代表性地位仍然没有定论，而且明确的分子研究尚未完成。此前，在20世纪70年代，形态学和表型特征被用于匹配皇家狮子和历史悠久的巴巴里狮子，并启动了一个涉及许多选定的“创始”动物的迁地繁殖计划。本文概述了摩洛哥和欧洲动物园中后代种群的状况，包括所有已知的来自皇宫收藏的纯种后代。创始人代表被证明是更大的整个欧洲系列比摩洛哥系列。建议各机构之间进行育种交流，以改善遗传多样性和维持种群的遗传健康，并为支持这一行动编制了欧洲动物园动物名册。这一分析可以作为指导有效维护圈养种群的基准，从而让时间来澄清皇家狮子的保护价值及其与北非生态的关系。
The last representatives of the Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo), once numerous in North Africa but exterminated from the wild by the 1940s, are believed to be the captive lions descended from the Moroccan Royal Collection, numbering less than 90 animals in zoos worldwide. The genetic fitness of these captive "Royal Lions" may now be under threat since, although most zoos have avoided hybridisation with animals of other origin, no formal breeding programme currently exists and several institutions have halted breeding activities. This situation has arisen since the distinctiveness of Barbary lions and the representative status of Royal Lions remain inconclusive and definitive molecular studies have yet to be completed. Previously, in the 1970s, morphological and phenotypic traits were used to match Royal Lions and the historic Barbary lion and an ex situ breeding programme was initiated involving a number of selected "founder" animals. This paper outlines the status of the descendent population within zoos in Morocco and Europe, including all known pure-bred descendents from the Royal Palace collection. Founder representation is shown to be greater across European collections than the Moroccan collection. Breeding exchanges are recommended between institutions in order to improve genetic diversity and maintain the genetic health of the population and a studbook for European zoo animals has been developed to support this action. This analysis serves as a benchmark for guiding effective maintenance of the captive population, thereby allowing time to clarify the conservation value of Royal Lions and their relevance to North African ecology.