South Africa: Leopard DNA Study in South Africa Traces Ancestry to Ice Age - and Will Guide Conservation

[The Conversation Africa] An ice age almost one million years ago led to a meeting between leopards from central and southern Africa that were searching for grassland. New research into the leopards' genetics - their mitogenome - has revealed that the descendants of these two groups are the leopards found today in South Africa's Mpumalanga province. One of the researchers, molecular ecologist Laura Tensen, has been studying the genetic structure of South African leopards for 14 years. She explains how the new research can be used