THE GENETIC BIODIVERSITY OF THE INTRODUCTION TO THE CHEETAH Is an endangered species existing in low population numbers.

They have an important role in wildlife communities.

Zoos in the world are trying to increase genetic diversity by applying captivity and making sure only unrelated animals mate. Artificial insemination is also used to fertilize eggs although its not always efficient. Semen and eggs are collected from wild Namibian Cheetahs and used in captive breeding programs.

GENETIC DIVERSITY

Sole number of its genus. There were cheetahs habiting in the four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America about 20 000 years ago. Due to climate changes, 10 000 years ago all but one cheetah specie became extinct. A. Jabatus, the remaining species was forced to breed close relatives among them, which caused all the cheetahs became genetically inbred, similar to each other.

CONSERVATION

INBREEDING

Cheetahs shows to have extremely low levels of variation compared to other animals. In a population cheetahs share from 80% to 99% of their genes. Cheetahs have low survivorship, poor sperm quality and greater vulnerability to disease. These animals are also threatened by loss of habitat as they need big space to survive and human persecution and poaching.

THE PROBLEM

Family members breeding only among themselves. Proteins in their blood are similar, so they are closely related. GENETIC RESEARCH The study of biological inheritance. Genes store the information that an individual inherits from his parents. The relationship between animals of the same population is determined by looking at the amount of variation in genes. This can help to see the way diseases will affect the population.