Paul O’Donoghue

The spiral-horned antelopes (genus Tragelaphus) are among the most phenotypically diverse of all large mammals, and evolved in Africa during an adaptive radiation that began in the late Miocene, around 6 million years ago. Tragelaphus was able to exploit the habitat heterogeneity created by Plio-Pleistocene paleoclimatic fluctuations and tectonic p...

Background The bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus, is a widespread and ecologically diverse ungulate species complex within the spiral-horned antelopes. This species was recently found to consist of two genetically divergent but monophyletic lineages, which are paraphyletic at mitochondrial (mt)DNA owing to an ancient interspecific hybridization event....

Background. The bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus , is the most widespread and ecologically diverse ungulate species complex within the spiral-horned antelopes. This species was recently found to consist of two genetically divergent but monophyletic Scriptus and Sylvaticus lineages, which are paraphyletic at mitochondrial (mt)DNA owing to an ancient i...

A European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) was established in the early 1990s, in order to manage a captive population of Asian lions (Panthera leo leo) within European zoos. The founders of this population comprised of nine individuals that originated from a captive population in India. During 2007–2009, 57 lions were born in the European capti...

The black rhinoceros is again on the verge of extinction due to unsustainable poaching in its native range. Despite a wide historic distribution, the black rhinoceros was traditionally thought of as depauperate in genetic variation, and with very little known about its evolutionary history. This knowledge gap has hampered conservation efforts becau...

1. The current classification of the Felidae was reviewed by a panel of 22 experts divided into core, expert and review groups, which make up the Cat Classification Task Force CCTF of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. 2. The principal aim of the CCTF was to produce a consensus on a revised classification of the Felidae for use by the IUCN. 3. Based on...

At an estimated $7–10 billion annually, the global trade in illegal wildlife parts is comparable in economic value to human trafficking, and the smuggling of weapons and drugs (Wasser et al. 2008; Wyler & Sheikh 2013). Basic economic principles of supply and demand ensure that, as target species become ever rarer, their market value continues to ri...

The pygmy hippo is an Endangered mammal endemic to West Africa, of which only 2,000-3,000 are left in the wild. Until now genetic resources to conduct monitoring of wild populations and to facilitate captive breeding have been lacking. In this study we used restriction-site associated DNA sequencing of five pygmy hippo samples to generate 1,619 hig...

Here we present an allelic discrimination assay designed to distinguish European wildcat mtDNA lineages from those of the domestic cat. Introgression between the native wildcat and introduced domestic cat has the potential to limit and reduce the recent recovery of remnant populations. Applied conservation genetic techniques can aid current conserv...

It is considered important to employ sound scientific principles of physical conditioning and coaching in order to enhance sports performance. One of the most critical of these principles is the rule of speci.city. In terms of key performance attributes such as physical capabilities, skill acquisition and cognitive learning a high degree of specifi...

Genetic theory predicts that directional selection should deplete additive genetic variance for traits closely related to fitness, and may favor the maintenance of alleles with antagonistically pleiotropic effects on fitness-related traits. Trait heritability is therefore expected to decline with the degree of association with fitness, and some gen...

Phenotype-based selective harvests, including trophy hunting, can have important implications for sustainable wildlife management if they target heritable traits. Here we show that in an evolutionary response to sport hunting of bighorn trophy rams (Ovis canadensis) body weight and horn size have declined significantly over time. We used quantitati...