DNA分析顯示，有5頭首度發現的尼斯納母象生活在南非好望角的南方區域。研究者表示，這項新發現，讓人類對於生存於世界最南端的象群，在19世紀末期與20世紀初期在獵人盜取象牙的攻擊下仍能存活下來的可能性，抱持著持審慎樂觀的態度。
尼斯納森林為南非佔地最廣的原始森林，棲息於此森林中的動物，僅尼斯納象為唯一未圍以柵欄的象群。牠們可自由地在國家公園、鄉間、商業用地與私人土地上漫步。
派特森(Gareth Patterson)是尼斯納象研究計劃成員之一，他表示：「這項研究顯示，這個象群至少有5頭母象，其中2頭為直系親屬，其他的可能為同父異母或同母異父的兄弟姊妹。」
尼斯納象在晚近才被視為面臨瀕臨絕種危機的動物，一般認為只剩一頭成熟母象仍存活著。
由派特森與密蘇里大學哥倫比亞分校的保育遺傳學家艾格特教授(Dr. Lori Eggert)所進行的尼斯納象族群研究指出，其存活的數量其實還更多一些。
關於這項研究報告的詳細內容，可參閱本期非洲生態雜誌(African Journal of Ecology)的網路發行版。
DNA analysis has revealed the existence of five previously unknown, female Knysna elephants in the Southern Cape region at the tip of South Africa. Researchers say the discovery is reason for cautious optimism that the world's most southerly elephant population may have survived the onslaught of ivory hunters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Inhabitants of the Knysna Forest, the largest indigenous forest in South Africa, the Knysna elephants are the only unfenced elephant population in the country. They range on national park, provincial, commercial and privately owned land.
"The Knysna elephant study identified that at least five females exist within the population, and two of the animals identified appear to be first-order relatives and that several others may be half-siblings," said Gareth Patterson of the Knysna Elephant Project.
Until very recently, the Knysna elephants were believed to be on the very edge of extinction, with only one elderly female still alive.
But the results of the population study, undertaken by Patterson and conservation geneticist Dr. Lori Eggert of the University of Missouri-Columbia, shows that a few more still survive.
A paper detailing their findings appears in the current online issue of the "African Journal of Ecology."
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