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TheBrikk t1_it89vtz wrote

Reply to comment by Johanezu in A pioneering rewilding project has had an early surprise: a bouncing baby bison. It is the first wild bison to be born in the UK for thousands of years. by grab-n-g0

Depends on how outbred the original 12 bisons were, but the current herd is likely to be very limited in terms of genetic diversity. The population is likely more at risk for rare recessive genetic disorders and has a population level fragility. High genetic diversity allows a species to survive tough conditions such as plague, famine, climate change as better adapted genes can permit a portion of the population to endure. Such an inbred population means a single disease or poor season could bring the species to the brink.

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godhelpusloseourmind t1_it8e7nu wrote

I wonder, if they had some DNA from old preserved specimens could you introduce it into the herd to bring up the gene diversity? Ie the ol clone and bone

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_ElectricSynapse t1_it96j7e wrote

There are lots of gene editing tools out there, so I doubt it's impossible, but the genetic diversity of the population will also improve over time due to random mutations.

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ActivisionBlizzard t1_itb7yxl wrote

On a human time scale the genetic diversity doesn’t meaningfully increase with time.

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Delamoor t1_itb9dod wrote

Let us keep hoping that they manage to hang on long enough for it to happen, yeah?

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ActivisionBlizzard t1_itbaebv wrote

Absolutely. Couldn’t be more happy that this type of thing is happening. But it doesn’t negate the fact that eventually the herds genetic diversity will need to be bolstered by outbreeding, which in this case is very possible.

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