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Southern White Rhino Victoria Is Pregnant, Could Save Subspecies
- mpd 8y agohttps://outline.com/eug5BB https://outline.com/eug5BB for anyone hitting the paywall
- vmarsy 8y agoThe Bloomberg website shouldn't be used in this submission. I find it shameful to put a paywall on an article literally copy-pasted from what Associated Press provided. It would make sens only if the ads disappeared if you're a Bloomberg subscriber. The exact same article word for word: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Rhino-Pregnancy-at-San-Diego-Zoo-Safari-Park-Raises-Hopes-of-Saving-Subspecies-482943591.html https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Rhino-Pregnancy-at-Sa... or https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/17/pregnant-rhino-san-diego-zoo-could-help-save-endangered-subspecies/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/17/pregnant-rhino-s... or https://www.wthr.com/article/rhino-in-san-diego-pregnant-could-help-save-subspecies https://www.wthr.com/article/rhino-in-san-diego-pregnant-cou... EDIT: even better, the link Johnny555 linked to: https://www.apnews.com/10c94168ec6d4efd894755ac84b17bca/Rhino-in-San-Diego-pregnant,-could-help-save-subspecies https://www.apnews.com/10c94168ec6d4efd894755ac84b17bca/Rhin... Curiously it wouldn't show up in my Google search.
- lainga 8y agocould we get a URL change
- Johnny555 8y agoIf you want to avoid seeing a re-post of an AP news article, then why not link to the AP itself? https://www.apnews.com/10c94168ec6d4efd894755ac84b17bca/Rhino-in-San-Diego-pregnant,-could-help-save-subspecies https://www.apnews.com/10c94168ec6d4efd894755ac84b17bca/Rhin...
- fireattack 8y agoIt's not paywalled here.
- adventured 8y agoYou can dodge the new Bloomberg paywall with an incognito tab, for now. I assume they might change that later, however for now it always works. I believe they give you ten free articles (per month?).
- Johnny555 8y agoThe San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research has the cell lines of 12 different northern white rhinos stored in freezing temperatures at its "Frozen Zoo." Is that enough genetic diversity to rebuild the species?
- imjustsaying 8y agoGenetic diversity is not a requirement for a species. Bacteria don't even have sex, and while they can pick up DNA from other bacteria via conjugation, it's not necessary for their reproduction.
- Johnny555 8y agoI don't think these Rhinos are bacteria, so they may not be comparable. For example: Cheetahs are a threatened species. Low genetic diversity and resulting poor sperm quality has made breeding and survivorship difficult for cheetahs. Moreover, only about 5% of cheetahs survive to adulthood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_diversity#Natural https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_diversity#Natural
- duskwuff 8y agoThat quote is a little misleading. Genetic evidence suggests that cheetahs went through two severe population bottlenecks around 100kya and 12kya, which is likely responsible for much of the low genetic diversity seen in the species today. Their threatened status is not the cause.
- Johnny555 8y agoDoes it matter how they lost genetic diversity? Whether the population bottleneck was caused by the end of the ice age 10K years ago, or by human poachers 10 years ago, this Rhino subspecies is down to 12 vials of eggs/sperm. And even 10,000 years later they are still struggling. Are humans willing to foster this one Rhino population for 1000 years?
- 8y ago
- maxxxxx 8y agoIs this a good allocation of resources and attention? I also doubt all the effort that's going into Pandas while a ton of animals that are less good looking have their habitats destroyed and nobody seems to care.
- kemiller 8y agoThe charismatic ones direct more attention to the overall problem than we'd get otherwise. For better or worse.
- wavefunction 8y agoOne great aspect of conserving large mammal species is that these species generally require large amounts of land so by protecting them you can hopefully also provide shelter for all the smaller and less-cuddly creatures in the area.
- Andre_Wanglin 8y agoHow is a subspecies defined?
- otalp 8y agoWhat is the value of saving a sub-species?