Fig. 1.

Genome-wide nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of IUCN’s Red List status. Mammalian nucleotide diversity estimates were taken from Robinson et al. (42). Some critically endangered (CR) species, such as the Yangtze river dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), show extremely low levels of nucleotide diversity. However, low levels of diversity are not necessarily due to recent anthropogenic pressures [the observed low genetic diversity in the baiji is due to a population bottleneck during the last glacial maximum ∼20 kya (114)]. Other endangered (EN) and critically endangered species, such as the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), show levels of diversity that fall well within the range of least concern (LC) species.