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Hope for 'generic' tigers

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by gentle lemur, 21 Apr 2008.

  1. gentle lemur

    gentle lemur Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Research shows that genetic testing may be able to identify some captive tigers, which do not have complete studbook records, as pure-bred members of a subspecies. Obviously this would have considerable benefits to captive gene pools if all tigers of indeterminate pedigree could be tested reliably.

    BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Captive tigers 'may save species'

    Alan
     
  2. NZ Jeremy

    NZ Jeremy Well-Known Member

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    Thats great news, the Sumatran program in Australasia could use more blood in time...
     
  3. patrick

    patrick Well-Known Member

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    i reckon they might find a few purebred bengals in there....
     
  4. Ara

    Ara Well-Known Member

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    Yep, I agree patrick; much more likely to find pure Bengals rather than Sumatrans.
     
  5. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That's a very useful discovery but I wonder how many 'generic' tigers will actually receive the test. How will it work in practise- would a zoo have to apply to have its tigers tested and provide the funding too? And if a pure tiger is identified somewhere, it might need to be removed elsewhere for breeding purposes, so the owning zoo could lose out... (Just highlighting a couple of problems....)
     
    Last edited: 23 Apr 2008
  6. James27

    James27 Well-Known Member

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    Are there not many pure bred Sumatran tigers in captivity?
     
  7. NZ Jeremy

    NZ Jeremy Well-Known Member

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    Its more the number of founding animals...