Poor genetic health threatens many species – but it’s fixable

Stuart Westmorland/Getty By the early 1990s, there were only around 20 Florida Panthers left on the planet. A distinct and isolated population of the widespread Puma (Puma concolor), the Florida Panther was pushed to the edge of extinction by a range of threats. One major issue was their poor genetic health, a measure of how diverse an individual or population’s genes are and how related everyone is. In 1995, researchers performed a daring “genetic rescue”. They introduced a handful of Texan…