Other Peregrine Projects > Canadian Peregrines
QC / Montréal - l'Université de Montréal - 2009-19
The Peregrine Chick:
--- Quote from: Elaine L on April 23, 2011, 13:52 ---I know that close family pairing in the wild animal world weakens the gene pool, among other things. I guess this is not the case in the falcon world; or, if it is, perhaps when you cannot find mates outside your family, you do what is necessary to ensure survival of the species. In the case of Polly, I don't know what to think, as she seems to be a very unusual falcon.
--- End quote ---
Actually, so long as there isn't a genetic weakness in the line, close familial ties in the wildlife world appear to work out just fine. Certain species, like hours, have lots of blips along our genetic strings so close ties have caused severe genetic problems. For cheetahs, the close ties were a necessity due to be down to just a few animals or even just one pregnant female - problems there is low reproductive rate, but the hardware works just fine. The advantage (so to speak) of being a wild non-human is that the lack of health care (or vet care) helps the species - can't help the "problems" to survive so to speak. Think of all the genetic tinkering we have done with breeds of dogs and the inherited problems some breeds are more prone to - without human and vet care, how many of those breeds would have survived. Cats too, but perhaps not to so great an extent.
Elaine L:
I know that close family pairing in the wild animal world weakens the gene pool, among other things. I guess this is not the case in the falcon world; or, if it is, perhaps when you cannot find mates outside your family, you do what is necessary to ensure survival of the species. In the case of Polly, I don't know what to think, as she seems to be a very unusual falcon.
carly:
Actually Sir James in Virginia was paired with his full sister for a 8 years and they produced an awful lot of young. He was 20 years old last year and held the record for nesting males (ones on web cam anyway) and disappeared last summer. HIs son has now taken over the nest with his (James's) second mate Elizabeth
Elaine L:
My gosh, this site is never dull. I have never heard of a brother and sister falcon mating, and I think there is something wrong here, if that is indeed the case. But I expect TPC knows more about this type of situation in the falcon world than I do.
Eye-spy:
French birds, right ? ::)
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