Unfolding admixed ancestry and genomic diversity in zoo giraffes
DOI: 10.1007/s10592-025-01757-4Read our scientific commentaryResearch by
Mischa Fraser, Rasmus Heller, Laura D. Bertola, Christina Hvilsom, Renzo F. Balboa, Xiaodong Liu, Anna Brüniche–Olsen
Combines zoo genomes, wild reference populations and studbooks to distinguish mixed ancestry from recent inbreeding inferred through long homozygous segments.
Publication details
Study facts
- Method
- Comparative whole-genome ancestry, heterozygosity, relatedness and runs-of-homozygosity analyses with studbook comparison.
- Location
- Zoo giraffe genomes compared with archived wild-population genomic references across Africa.
- Species
- Genus Giraffa analysed against four major lineages and nine wild populations; two Okapia johnstoni outgroups.
- Sample
- 13 zoo giraffes, two newly sequenced and eleven reused; 71 unrelated wild references and two okapi outgroups; some zoo animals related.
- Period
- New sequencing combined with archived data; specimen sampling dates are not compiled in the main Methods.
Full citation
Mischa Fraser, Rasmus Heller, Laura D. Bertola, Christina Hvilsom, Renzo F. Balboa, Xiaodong Liu, Anna Brüniche–Olsen (2026). Unfolding admixed ancestry and genomic diversity in zoo giraffes. Conservation Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-025-01757-4
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