When Echo’s five cubs were born last fall, their exact lineage was unclear. A genetic analysis conducted by Smithsonian scientists revealed the truth. Mike Bock Cheetah cub, 'Right Shave', pictured in ...

Most lethal mutations in wild fruit flies are driven by newly transferred jumping genes, not small DNA errors, according to a new study from Duke University. The findings, published in PLOS Biology, ...

Conservation strategies for species under threat of extinction are founded on various lines of biological insight. The advent of high throughput sequencing technology and population level sampling are ...

Koala populations with low genetic diversity are actually recovering by "reshuffling" their genes to remove harmful mutations ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. GrrlScientist writes about evolution, ecology, behavior and health. Even when genetic diversity appears to be adequate, hidden ...

Genetics helped scarlet monkeyflower rebound after California’s megadrought — a real‑world example of rapid evolution.

Wildlife populations that become small and isolated, often due to habitat loss, inevitably experience inbreeding which can lead to the loss of fitness and eventual extinction. One solution is to ...

Genetic diversity within many species is declining globally, according to a recently published study. “Any threat that reduces the size of a population, or which causes a larger population to become ...

A new genomic study of the endangered Oriental Stork reveals that the population's genetic health is still surprisingly strong, with high genetic diversity and low levels of inbreeding. This is an ...

A research team led by scientists at the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, has completed the most extensive genetic sequencing of a jararaca viper to date. The focus of the study was the genome ...