A study on the genetic history of Asian elephants in India has revealed that there are actually five genetically distinct populations in the country, more than earlier estimates. These populations were also found to have diverged from each other much earlier than previously thought, reports Arathi Menon for Mongabay India. India hosts some 30,000 Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), representing at least 60% of the global population of the species. Researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) collected blood samples from wild elephants in captivity from various parts of India and sequenced their whole genomes. Previous studies estimated three or four distinct elephant populations in India. But the new study showed there are five genetically distinct ones: three in south India and one each in north and central India. The researchers identified two geographical features that might have acted as barriers leading to the three populations in southern India: the Palghat Gap and the Shencottah Gap. Both are breaks in the Western Ghats mountain range, an important biodiversity hotspot. One distinct elephant population is found north of the Palghat Gap, while another lives south of it. A third population lives south of the Shencottah Gap. All five populations seem to have split from each other earlier than previously thought, the study found. “We believe the central Indian population diverged from the northeastern population around 50,000 years ago. The population north of the Palghat Gap diverged from the northeastern population 70,000 years ago,” study lead author…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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