Woolly mammoths experienced a genomic meltdown just before extinction

[rangerrebew]

Woolly mammoths experienced a genomic meltdown just before extinction
Genome comparison study has implications for animal conservation and evolutionary theory

Date:
    March 2, 2017
Source:
    PLOS
Summary:
    Dwindling populations created a 'mutational meltdown' in the genomes of the last woolly mammoths, which had survived on an isolated island until a few thousand years ago, report researchers.
 

FULL STORY
Mammoth skeleton (stock image).
Credit: © Miz3D / Fotolia

Dwindling populations created a "mutational meltdown" in the genomes of the last wooly mammoths, which had survived on an isolated island until a few thousand years ago. Rebekah Rogers and Montgomery Slatkin of the University of California, Berkeley, report these findings in a study published March 2nd, 2017 in PLOS Genetics.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170302143933.htm

[EC]

Same thing is happening to cheetahs now. They're all really closely related - a recipe for extinction.

[bigheadfred]

Same thing is happening with moslems. But they can't inbreed themselves into extinction fast enough for me.