Population status and genetic analysis of captive red goral (Naemorhedus baileyi) in Shanghai Zoo, China

Abstract

The red goral is an endangered species with a small population and narrow distribution in China. The only captive population (21 individuals) is held in Shanghai Zoo, China. Demographic and genetic analyses were carried out to assess the status of this captive population and put forward conservation and management proposals. Population status was assessed on the basis of studbook records from 1981 to 2016. The population size grew from seven (three males, four females) to 31 (19 males, 12 females) in 2012 (λ = 1.06) and 21 (17 males, four females) in 2016 (λ = 0.91). From 1981 to 2016, a total of 81 births (45 males, 36 females) and 68 deaths (32 males, 32 females, four unknown) occurred. The mean kinship (MK) of the population is 0.2614 and the average inbreeding index is 0.2037. Parturition mainly occurs in May, June and July, and deaths occurred in January, February, July and November. In addition, the genetic diversity of this population was analysed on the basis of nine microsatellite loci. The results revealed that 14 primer-amplified bands were found; nine of them were stable, with four loci highly polymorphic (polymorphic information content, PIC > 0.05), three moderate (0.25 < PIC < 0.5), one low (PIC < 0.25) and one monomorphic (PIC = 0). In total, 34 alleles were detected from eight microsatellite loci, with the number of alleles per locus (A) ranging from 3-6 (x = 4.250), and the effective number of alleles (Ne) from 1.245 to 3.862 (x = 2.529). The observed heterozygosity (H0) varied from 0.143 to 0.857 (x = 0.562), and the expected heterozygosity (He) from 0.201 to 0.755 (x = 0.550). The polymorphism information content (PIC) varied from 0.188 to 0.705 (x = 0.500). The results indicated a moderate level of genetic diversity among the red goral population in Shanghai Zoo.