The population structure and inbreeding coefficient in the Yerkes Chimpanzee Colony

This paper describes the establishment and expansion of the Yerkes Chimpanzee Colony over its first half-century of existence. Particular attention is given to the patterns of matings in the population and resultant distribution and levels of inbreeding. Over the period encompassed by this investigation the population mean inbreeding coefficient is 0.0045; the mean inbreeding coefficient for all inbred sibships (20 out of 264) is 0.0990. The mean inbreeding coefficient for all chimpanzees born in the colony is 0.0079, and the highest inbreeding coefficient for any individual is 0.125.