Tigers face threats like degradation on habitats and conflict with humans that has caused their numbers in India to dwindle. When the number of members in a population goes down, the population faces another threat, inbreeding depression. Scientists from the National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, study the genetic makeup of tiger populations to mediate the ill-effects of inbreeding depression.
New research reveals that a unique Indian skink species arrived on the subcontinent by rafting across the ocean from Southeast Asia millions of years ago, a journey made possible by fluctuating sea levels.