An issue I've thought hard about for some time is why we push the concept of maintaining genetic purity when it sometimes could lead to a species becoming extinct. In a recent news item about Mauis dolphions facing extinction because of low numbers, it also mentions about how one possible saving grace for them is the fact that two Hectors dolphins from the Sth Island were found amongst the North Island pod.
A quote from the article "Last summer, two Hector's dolphins were found to have travelled from the South Island to the Maui's habitat in the North Island. Researchers found one Hector's dolphin in the same area this summer.
If the two species were to breed, the Maui's population could have a chance of survival. Hector's dolphins are also endangered, with an estimated 7000 around the South Island."
I wondered the same sort of thing when reading that the bats in Nelson are endangered, and yet there are thousands of close relatives in the North. Why couldn't some be translocated so they inter-breed? Sometimes I wonder if the refusal to mix closely-related but genetically diverse species' individuals is to help nature, or to appease something in our own natures..!?
Forest & Bird » Other
Is genetic purity condeming some species to extinction?
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Posted 10 months ago #
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