People who want to save the lion and tiger often end up fighting like cats and dogs over how to go about doing it. That is because conservation, like all else, has several theories. The most commonly held belief is that the more the number, the better it is and all it takes to save a species is cordoning off a few patches of forest, hoping the poachers don’t skin the tigers and their guards. However for some time now, another thought and approach has emerged which says it is essential that there is enough genetic diversity to ensure species’ survival. In other words, if all the tigers were descended from the same parents then they may die out, from a single epidemic. But if they have sufficiently different genes it is possible that one of them may have a gene resistant to the disease of the parents. This was the corner stone of the genetic – evolutionary theory of conservation, and scientists from the centre of cellular and molecular Biology have been among its supporters.
Studies at the center have now shown that the Indian lion and tiger have more genetic variability than previously thought. This is good news; it means they are in no danger of extinction from inbreeding.
However to ensure their continued survival, a laboratory for the conservation of ‘Endangered Species’ is being set up in Hyderabad which will have egg, embryo and cell banks for future use. Assisted reproductive technologies, primarily artificial insemination and embryo transfer, are planned. Eventually the extinct Indian Cheetah may even be cloned there. “Back from death” could soon be more than a mere saying, in fact a virtual reality.
- Sonali Bindra
Presentation Convent Sr. Sec. School, Jammu