Inzucht scheint Berggorillas zu schützen

Wissen / 10.04.2015 • 15:08 Uhr
An eight-day-old western lowland gorilla named, Kassiu,rests with her 13-year-old mother, Naku, Thursday, March 27, 2014 at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wauwatosa, Wis. This is the first offspring for both the 27-year-old father, Cassius, and the mother. The last gorilla birth at the Zoo was in 1996. Female gorillas give birth to one infant after a pregnancy of nearly nine months. Unlike their powerful parents, newborns are tiny – weighing about 4 pounds – and able only to cling to their mother's hair. These infants ride on their mothers’ backs from the age of four months through the first two or three years of their lives. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered in the wild, but are more common than their relatives, the mountain gorillas. They live in heavy rain forests, and it's difficult for scientists to accurately estimate how many survive in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo. After March 27, Naku and Kassiu will be on public display intermittently until both are acclimated to the indoor exhibit. On any particular day, they may or may not be visible to the public. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mark Hoffman)
An eight-day-old western lowland gorilla named, Kassiu,rests with her 13-year-old mother, Naku, Thursday, March 27, 2014 at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wauwatosa, Wis. This is the first offspring for both the 27-year-old father, Cassius, and the mother. The last gorilla birth at the Zoo was in 1996. Female gorillas give birth to one infant after a pregnancy of nearly nine months. Unlike their powerful parents, newborns are tiny – weighing about 4 pounds – and able only to cling to their mother’s hair. These infants ride on their mothers’ backs from the age of four months through the first two or three years of their lives. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered in the wild, but are more common than their relatives, the mountain gorillas. They live in heavy rain forests, and it’s difficult for scientists to accurately estimate how many survive in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo. After March 27, Naku and Kassiu will be on public display intermittently until both are acclimated to the indoor exhibit. On any particular day, they may or may not be visible to the public. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mark Hoffman)

Die vom Aussterben bedrohten Berggorillas scheinen sich an das Überleben in kleinen Populationen genetisch anzupassen. Ein internationales Forscherteam fand heraus, dass bestimmte nachteilige Genvarianten infolge von Inzucht aus ihrem Erbgut verschwunden sind.  Die Forscher hatten das Erbgut der Berggorillas umfassend analysiert und mit dem der anderen Gorilla-Unterarten verglichen. Die Untersuchung zeigte auch, dass die Populationen von Berggorillas bereits seit 100.000 Jahren schrumpfen. FOTO: AP