Indian One horned Rhinoceros - Central Zoo Authority

population is summarized in table 5. It suggests that with a population growth rate of
1.013 and a generation length of 17.5 years the population can achieve the target of
100 specimens in the next 10
years. The maintenance of the
desired level of genetic diversity
in the captive population can be
achieved by the addition of 1
founder each for the next 10
years. This would allow the
maintenance of 90% genetic
diversity at the end of 50 years
(Figure 2).
Table 5 Management Strategy Table:
Planned
Generation length 17.5
Population growth rate 1.013
Ne / N ratio 0.32
Initial gene diversity 0.944
Target population size 100
# New founders needed 1
Year to Stop Adding Founders 10
Years Between Addition Events 1
FGE Recruited per New Founder 0.40
Generation length: The average time elapsing from reproduction in one generation to the time the next
generation reproduces. Also, the average age at which a female (or male) produces offspring. It is not the
age of first reproduction. Males and females often have different generation times.
Effective Population Size (Ne / N ratio) -- The size of a randomly mating population of constant size with
equal sex ratio and a Poisson distribution of family sizes that would (a) result in the same mean rate of
inbreeding as that observed in the population, or (b) would result in the same rate of random change in gene
frequencies (genetic drift) as observed in the population. These two definitions are identical only if the
population is demographically stable (because the rate of inbreeding depends on the distribution of alleles in
the parental generation, whereas the rate of gene frequency drift is measured in the current generation).
Founder Genome Equivalents (FGE) – The number wild-caught individuals (founders) that would produce
the same amount of gene diversity as does the population under study. The gene diversity of a population is
1 - 1 / (2 * FGE).
Hypothetical pairings were carried out using the pairings options of PM 2000 from
the ordered list of mean kinship of live individuals (table 6). The animals used for
pairing are listed in table 7 and those not used for pairing are listed in table 8. In
table 7, the column headed by “may be bred with” contains all those animals which
can possibly be used for pairing. While the column headed by “may not be bred with”
23