Title

East African Cheetahs: Evidence for Two Population Bottlenecks?

Authors

Stephen J. O'Brien, National Cancer Institute at FrederickFollow
David E. Wildt, Smithsonian Institution
Mitchell Bush, Smithsonian Institution
Timothy M. Caro, University of Cambridge; Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute
Clare Fitzgibbon, University of Cambridge; Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute
Issa Aggundey, National Museums of Kenya
Richard E. Leakey, National Museums of Kenya

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-15-1987

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Keywords

Spermatozoa, Allozyme polymorphism, Pleistocene extinction

ISSN

1091-6490

Volume

84

Issue/No.

2

First Page

508

Last Page

511

Abstract

A combined population genetic and reproductive analysis was undertaken to compare free-ranging cheetahs from east Africa (Acinonyx jubatus raineyi) with the genetically impoverished and reproductively impaired south African subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus). Like that of their south African counterparts, the quality of semen specimens from east African cheetahs was poor, with a low concentration of spermatozoa (25.3 x 10⁶ per ejaculate) and a high incidence of morphological abnormalities (79%). From an electrophoretic survey of the products of 49 genetic loci in A. jubatus raineyi, two allozyme polymorphisms were detected; one of these, for a nonspecific esterase, shows an allele that is rare (less than 1% incidence) in south African specimens. Estimates of polymorphism (2-4%) and average heterozygosity (0.0004-0.014) affirm the cheetah as the least genetically variable felid species. The genetic distance between south and east African cheetahs was low (0.004), suggesting that the development of genetic uniformity preceded the recent geographic isolation of the subspecies. We propose that at least two population bottlenecks followed by inbreeding produced the modern cheetah species. The first and most extreme was ancient, possibly late Pleistocene (circa 10,000 years ago); the second was more recent (within the last century) and led to the south African populations.

NSUWorks Citation

O'Brien, Stephen J.; David E. Wildt; Mitchell Bush; Timothy M. Caro; Clare Fitzgibbon; Issa Aggundey; and Richard E. Leakey. 1987. "East African Cheetahs: Evidence for Two Population Bottlenecks?." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 84, (2): 508-511. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/242

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015