On hybridisation

[Guest guest]

[Moderator's Note: though interesting, this thread is going off topic so this

will have to be the last word!]

 

, you make excellent points, as usual, and provide

considerable factual details. One correction, though: while it is

absolutely proven that all humans originated in Africa (and east

Africa is the only place where humans are not themselves an " invasive

species " ), it is now maintained that the original family of humans

was brown and not black. The living population closest to the

original Homo sapiens is the Kung tribe, also known as the Bushmen of

the Kalahari Desert of Africa, who have a medium brown skin tone. It

is theorized that the Kung migrated from east Africa to southern

Africa, and that the humans who remained in east Africa and migrated

elsewhere in Africa developed darker skin tones. In the meantime,

the humans who left Africa also underwent modifications of skin

color. Probably the first to leave Africa migrated into east Asia

and from there colonized North and South America. Another wave

leaving Africa were the people who migrated along the coast of south

Asia into Australia, called the Aborigines of Australia and the

Dravidians of India. The last to leave Africa were the Caucasians

whose first settlements were probably in Asia Minor and the Middle

East, and from there they migrated into central Asia and India and

also went east into Europe where they displaced the Neanderthals. It

is noteworthy that other apes also have brown or grey skin under

their fur.

Kim

 

 

>Dear colleagues,

>Thank you for the many messages the purport of

>which I hope will be passed to the Central Zoo Authority. Hybridisation is

>an issue that interests me greatly so I will endeavour to respond to the

>issues you have raised one by one:

>1) Dr Jain : Indeed there was an issue regarding the Chhatbir Zoo lions two

>years ago. I was approached by WSPA for information on this and since I had

>surveyed the zoo I gave them whatever I could. The hybrid lions of Chhatbir

>Zoo were surely suffering from a debilitating disease but media reports made

>it seem that it was a result of hybridisation. It might well have been due

>to inbreeding and it should be borne in mind that hybridisation and

>inbreeding are different phenomena. This recent report on the Tirupati Zoo

>lions is one of the very few in the mainstream press that sympathises with

>the plight of hybrid animals.

>Nine years ago, I asked Dr Michael Buford of the Institute of Zoology in

>London on what he thought about preserving the genetic purity of Asiatic

>Lions. He replied that maybe the Asian Lions would only survive by

>hybridisation because they were genetically crippled as a species.

>2) Kerry: I am aware of the Ruddy Duck hybridisation factor that allegedly

>threatens the purity of White Headed Ducks. If the Ruddy Ducks are now

>living freely in Britain and are migrating to other countries and

>hybridising with other species of ducks, they should be allowed to get on

>with it.

>3) Kim: If you have read Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, then you will realise

>that a lie repeated very often assumes the shape of truth. In his

>autobiography Hitler skilfully and forcefully describes the theory of

>Herrenvolk that preaches the purity of a master race. Hitler's ideas on

>racial purity have been censured today, but when it comes to animals we

>somehow accept applying the same principle.

>4)Jigme: The Nazi regime coerced and persuaded a lot of scientists to

>express disapproval for hybridisation and present it as scientific fact.

>Also, in the nineteen twenties and thirties, many white anthropologists made

>strenuous efforts to deny the Out of Africa hypothesis for the evolution of

>Homo Sapiens purely because it would imply that we are all descended from

>black people. Again, many conservation biologists today are denying the

>available evidence to blame hybrid animals for diluting the purity of many

>species.

>5) Edwin: Should animals be allowed to hybridise in captivity? This is

>something which ran through my mind when I conducted the Indian Zoo Inquiry.

>There are several aspects. I provide one example. The world's only

>successful reintroduction of a tiger in the wild was that of Tara, a hybrid

>tiger that was released in Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh by Billy

>Arjan Singh. Tara was obtained from Twycross Zoo in England and had Siberian

>genes in her. She reportedly bred in the wild and apparently her offspring

>have shown traits of Siberian Tigers too and they have been spotted in

>Dudhwa recently. Was it a right move to introduce a hybrid tiger in the wild

>in India and introduce foreign genes in the resident wild population? My

>personal view is that it was right to do so since Tara proved that a hybrid

>tiger could survive well in the wild in Indian conditions. But the jury is

>still out on Billy Arjan Singh's move for conservationists are still

>debating whether Tara diluted the gene pool of the Indian tiger and whether

>that was desirable.

>At one point of time, there were Tigons(TigerX Lion) and

>Litigons(LionXTigon) in Kolkata Zoo. Was it right to produce such creatures?

>As an experimental move, one could question the motives of the zoo but since

>they were brought into existence by humans, the onus lay on us to look after

>them properly. Incidentally, there are many of these Tiger Lion hybrids in

>captivity in USA.

>If you look around you, hybrid animals exist in abundance and are doing

>well for themselves. Almost all stray dogs in India are hybrid, there are

>hybrid bird species and even cetacean species have been known to hybridise.

>Many zoos also have hybrid Orang Utans(SumatranX Bornean) and they are

>perfectly healthy creatures.

>If the Central Zoo Authority has a discriminatory policy against hybrid

>creatures in captivity, now might be the time to tell them in no uncertain

>terms that their policy is misplaced and prejudiced. I have already done so.

>Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. If you receive any response on

>this issue from the Central Zoo Authority, kindly keep us posted on AAPN.

>Best wishes and kind regards,

>

>

>

 

--

Kim Bartlett, President of Animal People, Inc.

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

email <ANPEOPLE web-site: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/