The results of inbreeding can be very distressing to witness. In this Instagram post, we see a captive lion with skull deformities, and in this post, we see another lion with drastically shortened ...

A large-scale genomic study of koalas across eastern Australia has found that populations that went through severe 20th-century bottlenecks are already showing signs of genetic recovery, challenging ...

Without interrupting their busy sleep schedule, Australia’s cute, if cantankerous, koalas have turned a truism of genetics on its head. In short, the proliferation of certain koala populations shows ...

As koalas in southern Australia have grown from a few hundred to almost half a million, the marsupials show signs of regaining lost genetic variation.

If you follow media coverage of koalas, you could be forgiven for feeling confused. Recent stories describe a “koala paradox”: endangered in the north of Australia, abundant in the south; genetically ...

A red fox rests near Lassen Peak in this 2022 trail camera photo. Inbreeding is impacting Lassen's red foxes, which were abundant in the region before the 1900s, found a UC Davis study. (California ...

Sharing the name of a legendary dwarf in J. R. R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novel "The Hobbit," a Neanderthal now known as Thorin wandered the Earth up to 42,000 years ago. Now a new study in the ...

A rescue effort can take many forms — a life raft, a firehose, an airlift. For animals whose populations are in decline from inbreeding, genetics itself can be a lifesaver. Genomic research led by the ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most extensive genetic analysis of mountain gorillas ever conducted has found the critically endangered apes burdened with severe inbreeding and at risk of extinction but ...

Koalas suffered a massive population decline that left them with dangerously low genetic diversity. However, new genomic research suggests their rapid rebound may be helping reverse some of that ...