Title

Genetic Evidence for Two Species of Elephant in Africa

Authors

Alfred L. Roca, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Nicholas Georgiadis, Mpala Research Center - Kenya
Jill Pecon-Slattery, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Stephen J. O'Brien, National Cancer Institute at FrederickFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-24-2001

Publication Title

Science

ISSN

0036-8075

Volume

293

Issue/No.

5534

First Page

1473

Last Page

1477

Abstract

Elephants from the tropical forests of Africa are morphologically distinct from savannah or bush elephants. Dart-biopsy samples from 195 free-ranging African elephants in 21 populations were examined for DNA sequence variation in four nuclear genes (1732 base pairs). Phylogenetic distinctions between African forest elephant and savannah elephant populations corresponded to 58% of the difference in the same genes between elephant genera Loxodonta (African) and Elephas (Asian). Large genetic distance, multiple genetically fixed nucleotide site differences, morphological and habitat distinctions, and extremely limited hybridization of gene flow between forest and savannah elephants support the recognition and conservation management of two African species: Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis.

Comments

©2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Additional Comments

GenBank accession #s: AY044919-AY045493

NSUWorks Citation

Roca, Alfred L.; Nicholas Georgiadis; Jill Pecon-Slattery; and Stephen J. O'Brien. 2001. "Genetic Evidence for Two Species of Elephant in Africa." Science 293, (5534): 1473-1477. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/628

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015