A new study shows that a previous effort to rescue the Florida panther from extinction had some harmful side effects.
The effort involved adding Texas pumas to the Florida panther population, which at its lowest was estimated to be at about 30. The effort was aimed at diversifying genetics.
It was a success, but the University of Central Florida study shows that the Texas pumas brought with them some harmful genetic mutations that could present with inbreeding. Here’s lead author Alexander Ochoa.
“If the Florida panther were to shrink in size, then there is a risk that in-breeding could resume, and some of these deleterious mutations could emerge at the phenotypic level.”
In other words, the mutations could cause physical defects and impact reproduction. Central American pumas also are responsible for some of the mutations.
Dave Onorato is with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He says the study has important implications for other imperiled species.
“This is now a methodology that they’ve shown that is effective at screening individuals in the future that might want to be used for subsequent genetic rescue attempts, and it can be applied to panthers or any number of other species that are having conservation problems.”
The Florida panther — the official state animal — remains the most endangered of the state symbols with a population of between 120 and 230.
