Uncovering Fossil Evidence in Europe

Scientists have uncovered fossil evidence that traces the snow leopard’s history far beyond its current range. A skull found in Manga Larga, Portugal, in the early 2000s suggests that these elusive felines once roamed across much of Europe during the Quaternary period, about 800,000 years ago. This discovery, far from the familiar landscape of the Tibetan Plateau, raises intriguing questions about the species’ evolutionary journey and its ability to adapt to varied and challenging environments.

While snow leopards are typically associated with steep, rocky slopes and cold, alpine ecosystems, this fossil evidence points to a much broader geographic presence in the past. Researchers now believe that snow leopards were not always restricted to high-altitude habitats, instead inhabiting a variety of ecosystems across Eurasia, from the frozen plateaus of Tibet to the temperate forests of Europe.

The Evolution of the Snow Leopard

The snow leopard’s current range is a reflection of millions of years of evolution, shaped by climatic shifts and changing landscapes. As a species, it is well adapted to the frigid, mountainous environments of its modern habitat, with thick fur and large paws that help it traverse snowy slopes with ease. However, the fossil evidence suggests that the snow leopard’s evolutionary path was far more dynamic.

During the Middle and Late Pleistocene, approximately 500,000 to 10,000 years ago, snow leopards underwent rapid adaptation in response to environmental shifts. As the climate cooled, these big cats adapted not only to colder temperatures but also to new prey species and diverse habitats. The fossil skull found in Portugal is part of a larger body of evidence indicating that snow leopards expanded across different regions during periods of environmental change.

Fossil records indicate that snow leopards once roamed regions far beyond their current habitat, likely due to the diverse topography available to them. These areas, characterised by rocky landscapes, allowed the species to thrive in conditions that offered both shelter and ample hunting opportunities. This discovery underscores the snow leopard’s adaptability to environmental shifts, suggesting that it was capable of surviving changing climates and landscapes throughout history.

A Changing Climate and the Snow Leopard’s Decline

Today, the snow leopard faces an entirely different kind of challenge. Climate change, driven by human activity, is altering the landscape of its remaining habitats. Rising temperatures threaten to shrink the snow leopard’s home range, pushing them into increasingly higher altitudes where prey is becoming scarcer and competition more fierce. These environmental pressures are compounded by human encroachment on the land, as development and farming expand into previously untouched areas.

The fossil evidence provides valuable insights into how the snow leopard may respond to these modern-day challenges. Just as the species adapted to climatic changes during the Pleistocene, researchers are hopeful that understanding the animal’s evolutionary history will aid in designing conservation strategies that help it survive in the face of current threats.

Implications for Conservation Efforts

Understanding the snow leopard’s evolutionary history is crucial for informing contemporary conservation efforts. By recognizing the species’ capacity for adaptation, scientists can develop more effective strategies for protecting the animal’s future. For example, ensuring that the snow leopard has access to a variety of habitats and prey species could help increase its chances of survival as climate change continues to impact its environment.

The snow leopard’s ability to thrive in a range of ecosystems, as evidenced by these ancient fossils, could inspire new approaches to habitat preservation. Efforts to restore landscapes outside the species’ current range may allow snow leopards to gradually move into new areas, expanding their territories in response to the challenges posed by global warming.

A Rich and Resilient Legacy

This study highlights that factors such as climate, prey availability, and, most notably, the landscape—especially mountainous regions—are key to snow leopard habitats, potentially more so than altitude. This understanding is crucial for developing effective strategies for the conservation of this iconic species.

The discovery of snow leopard fossils in Europe challenges long-standing assumptions about the species’ geographic limits and highlights its remarkable evolutionary resilience. While today’s snow leopard may seem inextricably tied to the mountains of Central Asia, its past tells a different story—one of adaptation, expansion, and survival across vast and varied landscapes.

As the snow leopard faces unprecedented challenges from climate change and human encroachment, understanding its evolutionary history will be key to ensuring its future. The fossilised remains of this extraordinary cat remind us that its survival has always depended on its ability to adapt to the ever-changing world around it. With continued research and conservation efforts, we may still be able to safeguard the future of the snow leopard, just as it has managed to endure through countless millennia.

Source:
Qigao Jiangzuo et al., Insights on the evolution and adaptation toward high-altitude and cold environments in the snow leopard lineage. Sci. Adv. 11, eadp5243(2025).DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5243

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Research on Mammoths

The study looked at the genetic legacy of extinct species, using woolly mammoths as a focal point to illustrate the long-term effects of bottlenecks. By examining the genomes of mammoths from various time periods, researchers uncovered that these majestic creatures experienced significant genetic bottlenecks long before their final extinction. The analysis revealed that even as mammoth populations occasionally rebounded in numbers, their genetic diversity continued to decline over thousands of years. This prolonged genetic bottleneck likely contributed to their vulnerability to environmental changes and human pressures, ultimately leading to their extinction. The mammoth case study serves as a strong example of how demographic recovery alone is insufficient for the long-term survival of species, emphasising the importance of maintaining genetic diversity within conservation efforts.

The Bottleneck Effect and Its Consequences

Population bottlenecks occur when a population’s size is drastically reduced due to environmental events, disease outbreaks, or human activities such as habitat destruction. This reduction results in a loss of genetic diversity, which can have long-term effects on a population’s ability to adapt to changing environments and resist diseases. While conservation efforts often focus on increasing population numbers, this study emphasises that simply boosting population size does not immediately restore genetic diversity.

Key Findings: A Delayed Genetic Recovery

The study utilized advanced genomic techniques and simulations to analyze the recovery patterns of various species that had undergone bottleneck events. One of the key findings is that genetic diversity recovers much more slowly than population numbers. Even as the population size rebounds, the genetic pool remains shallow for an extended period, sometimes taking several generations to reach pre-bottleneck levels. This delay in genetic recovery is primarily due to the loss of rare alleles during the bottleneck and the slow process of new mutations adding diversity to the gene pool.

Implications for Conservation Management

The time-lag between demographic and genetic recovery has profound implications for conservation strategies:

1. Long-Term Monitoring and Support: Conservation programs need to extend beyond the point where population sizes have recovered. Long-term genetic monitoring is essential to ensure that genetic diversity is also on the path to recovery. This means that conservation efforts should be sustained over several generations of the species involved.

2. Genetic Rescue Operations: In cases where genetic diversity remains critically low, introducing individuals from other populations can be beneficial. This practice, known as genetic rescue, can help boost genetic diversity more quickly than waiting for natural mutations to occur. However, it must be done carefully to avoid outbreeding depression.

3. Habitat Restoration and Connectivity: Ensuring that populations can move and interact with each other is crucial. Habitat corridors that connect fragmented populations can facilitate gene flow, helping to restore genetic diversity more rapidly.

4. Focus on Rare Alleles: Conservation strategies should pay particular attention to the preservation and reintroduction of rare alleles, which are often lost during bottlenecks but are critical for long-term adaptability and resilience.

Case Studies and Real-World Applications

The publication includes several case studies that illustrate the varying rates of genetic recovery across different species. For instance, large mammals with longer generation times may experience more prolonged genetic bottlenecks compared to species with shorter generation times. These insights are particularly relevant for species such as elephants and rhinos, where poaching and habitat loss have caused severe population declines.

Policy Implications

For policymakers, the study underscores the importance of integrating genetic considerations into conservation legislation and funding priorities. Policies should support long-term genetic studies and the creation of genetic repositories, which can serve as a genetic bank for future conservation efforts.

Resilience and Adaptability

The research published in Cell marks a significant advancement in our understanding of population recovery dynamics. The time-lag between demographic and genetic recovery highlights the need for sustained and comprehensive conservation strategies that go beyond mere population counts. By incorporating genetic recovery into conservation planning, we can enhance the resilience and adaptability of species that have experienced bottlenecks, ensuring their survival in an ever-changing world.

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Photo by Christopher Alvarenga (Unsplash)

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Green Heritage

In September 2023, the Dutch National Cultural Heritage Agency published a checklist highlighting endangered and vulnerable native trees and shrubs in the Netherlands, emphasizing the importance of preserving these vital components of biodiversity.

The checklist aims to draw the attention of land managers, government authorities, and environmental organizations to focus on safeguarding these threatened species within Dutch provinces, ultimately striving to sustain viable provincial populations of each listed species. The list underscores the critical role of wild (native) trees and shrubs in ancient woodlands and their interconnectedness with diverse ecosystems. It also highlights the importance of genetic diversity within populations and the risks associated with the dominance of cultivated trees.

Endangered wild trees and shrubs

Wild (native) trees and shrubs form the basis of biodiversity in ancient forests, hedgerows, hedges, and thickets. Forests with predominantly wild trees are referred to as “ancient woodland.” Trees and shrubs in these forest are the center of an extensive food web that has evolved around them. This represents native biodiversity, the result of ten thousand years of evolution in the lowlands.

Every tree or shrub species nurtures a complex network of organisms intricately linked to or reliant upon that specific botanical variety. The significance of ancient woodlands is further underscored by their forest floors, with biodiversity that is still uncharted and awaiting exploration.

In the Netherlands, around 100 native tree and shrub species have wild populations. Alarmingly, roughly half of these native species face the looming threat of extinction, with five species having already vanished across the nation.

It is estimated that about five locations with wild populations disappear in the country each year. Moreover, many local populations are (too) small and thus also threatened with extinction. Proper management of the remaining growth sites can reverse this trend and allow the populations of wild trees and shrubs in the Netherlands to grow again.

To identify the species at risk, Ecological Consulting Firm Maes, Wilde Bomen, and Landscape Management Flevoland, commissioned by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), have prepared so-called “checklists” for each province. These lists provide an overview of the threatened wild populations of native tree and shrub species by province.

Genetic diversity is the engine of evolution

A wild population of trees or shrubs boasts significantly greater genetic diversity compared to planted counterparts. Planting, even with native material, tends to yield less variation. Genetic diversity within a population enhances its resilience to climate and environmental changes, enabling certain individuals to better adapt and thrive in new conditions. To achieve this, population size matters, as each member in a natural population possesses slight differences. High genetic diversity stands as a cornerstone for wild trees and shrubs, and even in smaller populations, preservation is vital, guided by the precautionary principle. It’s crucial to note that species extinction triggers the loss of numerous other organisms.

The trade predominantly selects common trees and shrubs based on attributes beneficial to humans, including straight trunks, rapid growth, larger fruits, beautiful flowers, and ornamental leaves. This selective process has led to the reduction of natural variation and adaptability, with such trees dominating 97% of Dutch forests.

Natural forests in the Netherlands are exceedingly rare. Wild trees and shrubs on ancient growth sites occupy less than 3% of the total forest and landscape area containing trees and shrubs in the country. Even in these areas, only a fraction of the surface hosts wild trees and shrubs. Planted trees originating from various sources, timber species, invasive exotic species, and garden and park plants, often spread by wind and birds, tend to prevail, even within old forests. Consequently, new planting with native plant material lacks the same ecological value as ancient natural forests.

New planting with native plant material does not have the same value as old natural forests.

Native versus wild/autochthonous

Most native tree and shrub species have a large natural distribution in Europe. However, significant genetic differences exist within the species throughout Europe. Therefore, a distinction is made between native (or wild) and non-native trees and shrubs among native species. A native tree is not only native as a species but also locally genetically native as an individual. A native tree is part of a population that has spontaneously established itself here since the last Ice Age.

Humans may have played a role in this to some extent, but the plant material must be traceable to native populations. Old traditional forestry practices such as coppicing and pollarding have contributed to the preservation of wild trees and shrubs.

Non-native trees have a different, often unknown, origin and have been planted or naturalised outside their native range. In that way, a tree or shrub can be native to the Netherlands but not autochthonous. In this case, the plant material comes from outside the Netherlands, and/or the tree grows outside its natural distribution area. Each tree species has a natural range, and outside that range, the tree or shrub species is not native. These ranges do not necessarily align with national borders. The term “native” is imprecise, has a different definition, and does not follow national borders.

More information

The checklist includes the most endangered native species in each province, the wild population of which is threatened or vulnerable. When managing old forest cores and hedgerows, it is advisable not only to “preserve” these trees and shrubs but also to tailor the management to all wild trees and shrubs present, including those not threatened.

The checklist can be found in Appendix 2 from the RCE report “Preservation of Green Heritage.”

Which forests and landscape elements are old? These sites are displayed on the Cultural Heritage Agency’s Landscape Green Heritage map.

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Scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences have contributed fresh insights into the population diversity of these bison through the analysis of newly discovered subfossil remains from the Balkan Peninsula. This study focused on seven ancient samples excavated from caves in Western Stara Planina, Bulgaria. Mitochondrial D‐loop (HVR1) sequence analysis was used to examine these samples, which were dated to approximately 3,800 years ago using radiocarbon analysis.

Furthermore, a phylogenetic analysis was conducted to explore the genetic connections among these samples and all available mitochondrial DNA sequences from the Bison genus, sourced from GenBank. The findings revealed that these sequences clustered with those from the extinct Holocene South‐Eastern (Balkan) wisent and the fossil Alpine population found in France, Austria, and Switzerland. Interestingly, they did not align with the recent Central European (North Sea) population or the now-extinct Caucasian population.

These results indicate that the Balkan wisent, which existed in historical times, can be considered a relic and likely an isolated population stemming from the Late Pleistocene‐Holocene South‐Western mountainous population of the wisent. The presumed migration path of this group traces from the Caucasus and Asia Minor through the Balkans to western European territories. This comparative analysis of regional data significantly enriches our comprehension of the origin and migration patterns of the European bison (wisent).

Source: New data on the evolutionary history of the European bison (Bison bonasus) based on subfossil remains from Southeastern Europe

Featured image: Arend de Haas

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Paul A. Baribault, president/CEO of San Diego Zoo Global, emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts in saving endangered species. He applauded this remarkable achievement, attributing it to their multidisciplinary approach, collaboration with top scientific minds, and the utilization of genetic material stored in their wildlife DNA biobank.

The birth of this cloned foal, a species first, holds promise as a valuable model for future conservation endeavors. Ryan Phelan, executive director of Revive & Restore, highlighted the potential of advanced reproductive technologies, including cloning, to rescue species by restoring lost genetic diversity.

This cloned foal, named “Kurt” in honor of Kurt Benirschke, M.D., a key figure in founding the Frozen Zoo and the conservation research program at San Diego Zoo Global, represents a significant milestone in Przewalski’s horse conservation. Cloned from a cell line preserved since 1980, this stallion has the potential to introduce crucial genetic diversity to the Przewalski’s horse population once he matures and successfully breeds.

Bob Wiese Ph.D., chief life sciences officer at San Diego Zoo Global, expressed hope that Kurt would play a pivotal role in preserving the genetic variation vital for the future of the Przewalski’s horse population.

The Przewalski’s horse, once extinct in the wild, has survived in zoos worldwide for four decades, with all surviving horses tracing their lineage to 12 Przewalski’s horses born in the wild. Although intensive breeding programs have helped recover the species, they have also resulted in losses of genetic diversity. However, the availability of living cells stored in the Frozen Zoo has opened the door to technologies like cloning, which can now halt these losses.

While reintroductions since the 1990s have established wild herds in China and Mongolia, preserving genetic diversity remains vital for the species’ long-term survival.

Advanced reproductive technologies are well-established in domestic horses and cattle, but their application to endangered species has been limited. Kurt’s successful birth underscores the potential of these techniques in conservation efforts, both now and in the future.

Shawn Walker, chief science officer at ViaGen Equine, reported that Kurt was born healthy and reproductively normal, exhibiting typical foal behaviors like head-butting and demanding milk from his surrogate mother.

ViaGen Equine, based in Texas, has collaborated with Timber Creek Veterinary for over 15 years, having cloned hundreds of horses worldwide using proven equine cloning techniques.

Revive & Restore, a wildlife conservation organization based in Sausalito, California, is at the forefront of promoting biotechnologies in conservation. Founded in 2012, their mission is to enhance biodiversity by applying 21st-century biotechnology to rescue endangered and extinct species.

San Diego Zoo Global’s commitment to wildlife conservation extends to on-site efforts at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, along with international field programs across six continents. Their work reaches over a billion people annually, spanning 150 countries through various media channels, children’s hospitals, and global supporters dedicated to saving species from the brink of extinction.

Source: San Diego Zoo
Photo: Scott Stine/San Diego Zoo Global

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Van Holstein’s research could now be used to predict which species conservationists should focus on protecting to stop them becoming endangered or extinct.

A species is a group of animals that can interbreed freely amongst themselves. Some species contain subspecies — populations within a species that differ from each other by having different physical traits and their own breeding ranges. Northern giraffes have three subspecies that usually live in different locations to each other and red foxes have the most subspecies — 45 known varieties — spread all over the world. Humans have no subspecies.

van Holstein said: “We are standing on the shoulders of giants. In Chapter 3 of On the Origin of Species Darwin said animal lineages with more species should also contain more ‘varieties’. Subspecies is the modern definition. My research investigating the relationship between species and the variety of subspecies proves that sub-species play a critical role in long-term evolutionary dynamics and in future evolution of species. And they always have, which is what Darwin suspected when he was defining what a species actually was.”

“From looking at species as only strongly-marked and well-defined varieties, I was led to anticipate that the species of the larger genera in each country would oftener present varieties, than the species of the smaller genera; for wherever many closely related species (i.e species of the same genus) have been formed, many varieties or incipient species ought, as a general role, to be now forming. Where many large trees grow, we expect to find saplings.” – Charles Darwin, 1859

The anthropologist confirmed Darwin’s hypothesis by looking at data gathered by naturalists over hundreds of years ¬- long before Darwin famously visited the Galapagos Islands on-board HMS Beagle. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, was first published in 1859 after Darwin returned home from a five-year voyage of discovery. In the seminal book, Darwin argued that organisms gradually evolved through a process called ‘natural selection’ — often known as survival of the fittest. His pioneering work was considered highly controversial because it contradicted the Bible’s account of creation.

Van Holstein’s research also proved that evolution happens differently in land mammals (terrestrial) and sea mammals and bats (non-terrestrial)¬ because of differences in their habitats and differences in their ability to roam freely.

Van Holstein said: “We found the evolutionary relationship between mammalian species and subspecies differs depending on their habitat. Subspecies form, diversify and increase in number in a different way in non-terrestrial and terrestrial habitats, and this in turn affects how subspecies may eventually become species. For example, if a natural barrier like a mountain range gets in the way, it can separate animal groups and send them off on their own evolutionary journeys. Flying and marine mammals — such as bats and dolphins — have fewer physical barriers in their environment.”

The research explored whether subspecies could be considered an early stage of speciation — the formation of a new species. van Holstein said: “The answer was yes. But evolution isn’t determined by the same factors in all groups and for the first time we know why because we’ve looked at the strength of the relationship between species richness and subspecies richness.”

The research acts as another scientific warning that the human impact on the habitat of animals will not only affect them now, but will affect their evolution in the future. This information could be used by conservationists to help them determine where to focus their efforts.

Van Holstein explained: “Evolutionary models could now use these findings to anticipate how human activity like logging and deforestation will affect evolution in the future by disrupting the habitat of species. The impact on animals will vary depending on how their ability to roam, or range, is affected. Animal subspecies tend to be ignored, but they play a pivotal role in longer term future evolution dynamics.”

Van Holstein is now going to look at how her findings can be used to predict the rate of speciation from endangered species and non-endangered species.

Source: St John’s College, University of Cambridge

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