title: Reintroduction of confiscated and displaced mammals risks outbreeding and introgression in natural populations, as evidenced by orang-utans of divergent subspecies.
abstract: Confiscated and displaced mammals are often taken to sanctuaries, where the explicit goal may be reintroduction to the wild. By inadvertently collecting animals from different source populations, however, such efforts risk reintroducing individuals that have not been in genetic contact for significant periods of time. Using genetic analyses and 44 years of data from Camp Leakey, an orang-utan rehabilitation site on Borneo, we determined the minimum extent to which orang-utans representing non-native, geographically and reproductively isolated taxa were reintroduced into the surrounding wild population. We found two reintroduced females were from a non-native subspecies, and have since produced at least 22 hybridized and introgressed descendants to date, of which at least 15 are living. Given that Bornean orang-utan subspecies are thought to have diverged from a common ancestor around 176,000 years ago, with marked differentiation over the last 80,000 years, we highlight the need for further evaluation of the effects of hybridizing orang-utans of different taxa--particularly in light of the ~1500 displaced orang-utans awaiting urgent reintroduction. As endangered mammals are increasing in number in sanctuaries worldwide, we stress the need for re-examination of historical reintroductions, to assess the extent and effects of de facto translocations in the past.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QY, United Kingdom.|Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.|CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Graham L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Banes
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Biruté M F
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Galdikas
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vigilant
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001893:Borneo; D001947:Breeding; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D056727:Endangered Species; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005828:Genetics, Population; D008322:Mammals; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial