The Beautiful And Damned David Quammen Summary

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"The Beautiful and Damned," an article written by the Rhodes Scholar David Quammen from Reading the Environment, claims the "Unusually low genetic diversity (251)," found in cheetahs by the geneticist S. J. O'Brien, is connected to the captivity of the cheetahs throughout human history. The species Acinonyx jubatus has a dearth amount of" genetic polymorphism in forty-seven allozyme loci" as stated by (O'Brien 251). These wild cats are endangered and might only range from 20,000 to 1,500 in accordance to Quammen (250). As reported by Quammen's conclusive article cheetahs do not breed in captivity, which is one of the reasons why there are very few. Furthermore, another viable reason is that their genes do not allow them to adapt. One possibility of why this is happening to them is due to the fact that they evolved all on their own early on and differently from others of the feline family. He also emphasizes how their body is the biggest factor on how they have difficulty surviving. Quammen claims their "teeth are shorter and jaws are weak" (252), if it …show more content…

In South Africa the cheetah population's genes are too close to each other to be healthy. Quammen refers to geneticist S. J. O'Brien for scientific evidence concluding the specific gene problems, one of which has been named "electrophoresis". Electrophoresis is a specific mastery where the genetic dissimilarities can be deduced through gauging small electrical differences of enzymes and proteins or another way of explaining electrophoresis would be the movement of charged particles in a fluid or gel under the influence of an electric field. The South African Cheetahs show two "symptoms common among inbred livestock" says Quammen citing O'Brien's study, they are prone to disease and have low counts of abnormally shaped sperm

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