in Ecology

Rhinoceros genomes uncover family secrets

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  • NEWS AND VIEWS
  • 19 October 2021

Rhinoceros genomes uncover family secrets

Genomes from living and extinct rhinos reveal that different species evolved as a result of geographic isolation. A comparison of DNA from different species also shows that rhinos have long displayed low genetic variability.
  • Desire Lee Dalton

    0
    &

  • Stefan Prost

    1

  1. Desire Lee Dalton

    1. Desire Lee Dalton is at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.

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  2. Stefan Prost

    1. Stefan Prost is at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria 0001, South Africa, and in the Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology at the Vetmeduni Vienna, and the Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria.

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Historically, rhinos were once abundant throughout Europe, Asia and Africa1. Today, five species of rhinoceros survive as small populations in Asia and Africa, and are all threatened with extinction2. Although well studied, there is debate in the literature about evolutionary relationships between modern and extinct rhinos, with three hypotheses being proposed (Fig. 1a–c). Writing in Cell, Liu et al.3 analyse contemporary and ancient rhinoceros DNA to piece together the puzzle of the rhino’s evolutionary history.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02777-z

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