Humans have relied on animal fur for centuries, yet fur farming only began recently during the mid‐19th Century. Little is known about this incipient domestication or the genomic processes involved. Domestication may involve founder effects, population bottlenecks and low population size, which, when combined with intense artificial selection, lead to inbreeding, a limited gene pool and reduced fitness. The arctic fox ( Vulpes...

The cold and arid mountains and plateaus of High Asia, inhabited by a relatively sparse human population, a high density of livestock, and wildlife such as the iconic snow leopard Panthera uncia , are usually considered low risk for disease outbreaks. However, based on current knowledge about drivers of disease emergence, we show that High Asia is rapidly developing conditions that favor increased emergence of infectious disea...

The genetic structure of a population can provide important insights into animal movements at varying geographical scales. Individual and social behaviors, such as philopatry and dispersal, affect patterns of relatedness, age and sex structure, shaping the local genetic structure of populations. However, these fine scale patterns may not be detected within broader population genetic structure. Using SNP genotyping for pairwise...