| Abstract: | The southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) has suffered severe reductions in population size over the last 150 years as a result of overhunting. We optimized 10 southern white rhinoceros microsatellite loci and tested them on 30 individuals from the largest remaining population of this species. Five of the 10 loci were polymorphic with mean expected heterozygosity of 0.578, mean polymorphic information content of 0.481 and mean number of alleles 2.8. Although these data suggest low genetic variability in C. s. simum, an accurate comparison of variability awaits results of ongoing broad‐scale microsatellite surveys in this family. |
