The lesson we can learn from the rebound of American bison might help a whole passel of African animals whose fate is clouded by poaching and habitat destruction. How? By mapping their genetic identity, suggests Dr. James Derr, a biologist at Texas A&M University.
Derr found the success of the bison restoration was mainly due to a handful of ranchers from all around North America who had saved a few buffalo from the days of the open range. When the U.S. government began looking for animals to repopulate the species, it found these ranchers with bison from different regions and with different genetic stock. This genetic diversity helped save the species, according to Derr’s investigation into bison DNA.
Read the full, original story: How Gene Mapping Could Save Some African Game Species
