We examined sequence variation in the mitochondrial cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 genes (2,360 bp total) for 26 lions from eleven locations throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Six distinct haplotypes were observed in the combined sequences, forming two clades: the eastern and the western savannas. The Uganda-Western Kenya haplotype grouped at a basal position with the eastern clade of lions from Tsavo south to the Transvaal and Natal regions. The phylogenetic position of the haplotype from Sabi Sands in the southern part of Kruger National Park remained poorly resolved. The haplotypes found in Namibia and Botswana formed the western clade. The modest genetic variation documented here argues against taxonomic distinctions among living African lions.

Concentrations of adrenal steroid metabolites in feces are routinely used to assess the welfare of animals that are the subject of conservation efforts. The assumption that low and declining corticoid concentrations indicate the absence of stress and acclimation, respectively, is often made without experimental support or wildanimal comparisons, although intrinsic control of adrenal steroids might occur even under ongoing stress and distress. We adopted the capture and 11-week captivity of 18 black (Diceros bicornis: 11 males, seven females) and 52 white (Ceratotherium simum: 22 males, 30 females) rhinoceros as an experimental test of the relationship between corticoid concentrations and stress (translocation) and measured for suppressed gonad function as an indicator of distress -the biological cost of cumulative stressors. Fecal samples collected from the rectum at capture and during captivity were stored frozen and their corticoid, and androgen (in males) or progestin (in females), concentrations determined by radioimmunoassay. Corticoid profiles followed the expected pattern of being two to five times precapture levels (ng g À1 : black rhino: female 24.5 AE 3.7, male 23.9 AE 2.2; white rhino: female 16.3 AE 1.6, male 12.3 AE 2.4) for up to 17 days after capture and declined with time in captivity. Black rhinoceros and male white rhinoceros corticoids declined below pre-capture values and were associated with suppressed levels of androgens and progestins with increased time in captivity. Declining corticoids could not be interpreted as acclimation or the absence of stressors, without also measuring for distress in African rhinoceros. White rhinoceros female corticoid values remained elevated, although their gonad steroid levels were also suppressed. We discuss our findings for the management of rhinoceros in the wild and captivity.

The wild water buffalo is highly endangered, with the few remaining populations already affected or likely to be increasingly affected by hybridization with domestic buffalo. The work described here was done to evaluate a genetic method to discriminate wild from mixed ancestry (hybrid) and domestic animals, and to identify with high probability those most likely to be purebred wild. Samples from 45 animals (phenotypically classified into three groups -ten wild, 28 domestic and seven hybrid) were genotyped for ten microsatellite loci. Although genetic distances among the three groups were small, an assignment test identified two of the 'wild' and seven of the 'domestic' as hybrids. However, sample sizes also are small, indicating the need for a conservative approach in the first instance in using these results. As more animals are genotyped, assignments will become more accurate, and a translocation programme to establish a second Nepalese wild population in a protected area could be undertaken.

Thirty protein-coding loci of southern African black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) from four isolated populations were studied using starch gel electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Gene diversity estimates varied between 0.036 and 0.058, with the Zambezi Valley population having the largest amount of protein variation. These levels are higher than those in other studies of genetic variation in black rhinoceros and are similar to the amount of genetic variation observed for outbred natural populations that are not genetically depauperate. Because the observed levels of genetic variation vastly exceed the expectations for current effective population sizes, the current levels apparently reflect large black rhinoceros populations which have existed until recently. Observed levels of genetic variation within populations are consistent with the expectations when recent demographic events are taken into account.

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