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Melanistic Genet in the Kafue National Park


KafueTyrone

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A very rare sighting a month or so ago at Musekese Camp, Kafue National Park.

How many folk have seen or heard of a Melanistic Genet before?

What strikes me about this sighting is that most of what we know or understand about the prevalence of melanism is from relatively closed populations of wildlife (think Aberdares or Mt. Kenya). Smaller populations with little to no migration to maintain genetic diversity in theory means that rarer genes, expressing things like melanism are proportionally more likely to be expressed in small populations, especially if there is a selection pressure on them (i.e. being black is favourable in dark forests, etc.) The Kafue NP is arguably the largest unfenced and 'open' wildlife area and as such the population of genet as an example is very unlikely to be a 'closed' population, in fact it is arguably going to be the complete opposite of what we understand are the ideal scenarios for melanism to be expressed?

Anyway, just my thoughts!

post-15543-0-88153600-1441796135_thumb.jpg

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Something else to add to the list of things you/Phil have got to find for us in a couple of weeks time! ;)

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