Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Rhinoceros genomes uncover family secrets

Genomes from living and extinct rhinos reveal that different species evolved as a result of geographic isolation. A comparison of DNA from different species also shows that rhinos have long displayed low genetic variability.
  1. Desire Lee Dalton

    1. Desire Lee Dalton is at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Stefan Prost

    1. Stefan Prost is at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria 0001, South Africa, and in the Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology at the Vetmeduni Vienna, and the Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Historically, rhinos were once abundant throughout Europe, Asia and Africa1. Today, five species of rhinoceros survive as small populations in Asia and Africa, and are all threatened with extinction2. Although well studied, there is debate in the literature about evolutionary relationships between modern and extinct rhinos, with three hypotheses being proposed (Fig. 1a–c). Writing in Cell, Liu et al.3 analyse contemporary and ancient rhinoceros DNA to piece together the puzzle of the rhino’s evolutionary history.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 599, 209-210 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02777-z

References

  1. Tissier, J. et al. PLoS One 13, e0193774 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ashley, M. V., Melnick, D. J. & Western, D. Conserv. Biol. 4, 71–77 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Liu, S. et al. Cell 184, 4874–4885.e16 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Couvering, J. A. & Delson, E. J. Vert. Paleontol. 40, e1803340 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Tougard, C., Delefosse, T., Hänni, C. & Montgelard, C. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 19, 34–44 (2001).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Von Seth, J. et al. Nature Commun. 12, 2393 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. van der Valk, T., Díez-Del-Molino, D., Marques-Bonet, T., Guschanski, K. & Dalén, L. Curr. Biol. 29, 165–170.e6 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Antoine, P.-O. et al. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 160, 139–194 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Cappellini, E. et al. Nature 574, 103–107 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Steiner, C. C. & Ryder, O. A. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 163, 1289–1303 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Antoine, P.-O. et al. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab009 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Welker, F. et al. PeerJ 5, e3033 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Margaryan, A. et al. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 190, 372–383 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links