Abstract
Though belonging to genera that have been distinct for several million years, gelada and common baboons - Theropithecus gelada and Papio hamadryas sensu lato, respectively - interbreed occasionally, even in the wild. A female hamadryas at Bihere Tsige Park, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, apparently favored a gelada male over eligible conspecifics and produced several offspring with him. The F1 hybrids were large but developmentally normal. In skull and tooth form, and to a lesser extent in postcranial proportions, they were intermediate between the parental forms but lacked most of their parents' derived, (sub)species-specific epigamic characters. A female infant born to a subadult F1 was sired by a hamadryas. The backcross infant appeared normal and was still flourishing at about 2.5 years. Though perhaps impeded by natural selection against poorly adapted hybrids, theoretically interspecific hybridization could exceed mutation as a source of novel, preadapted genes in the wild.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 597-627 |
Number of pages | 31 |
Journal | International Journal of Primatology |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1997 |
Keywords
- Baboons
- Hybridization
- Introgression
- Microsatellites
- Papio hamadryas
- Speciation
- Theropithecus gelada
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Animal Science and Zoology