Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

[tigerluver]

I agree wild animals are better than captive specimens, but the only functional data we have is of captive specimens. I wouldn't disregard data derived from captive specimens, as many great studies, such as those done by Dr. Christiansen, are based off of captive specimens. 

Again, the Wildt et al. study only compared to lines of one zoo, and thus one lineage. The Shivaji studies uses three zoos and thus three lineages. So essentially we have this: out of 4 sample areas, 1 showed effects of inbreeding while 3 did not. In the available data, the majority rules. Furthermore, the Shivaji study is backed up by, "These results confirm the findings and conclusions of Singh et al.14 who, based on the observed genetic variation in Indian tigers and Asiatic lions, concluded that the genetic variability was a characteristic feature of these species and was not due to intensive inbreeding." Thus we have two sources favoring no inbreeding against one saying inbreeding is a problem, but this study essentially consisted of only one sample, and one sample is a much weaker representation of a population than three cited by the Shivaji study. Finally, see this, "In fact, the mean testosterone value of the Indian lions was very similar to that observed for the outbred lions of Serengeti7." This is the counterevidence to the Wildt et al. study, derived from 3 samples instead of 1. Here we have captive specimens showing similarities with wild, outbred specimens, favoring the validity of using captive specimens in this case. Reply