Research overview: genetic load and purging in small felid populations

Small populations accumulate deleterious mutations, the genetic load, but sustained inbreeding can also expose and remove the most harmful recessive variants through a process called purging. This overview surveys how genomic studies of cats such as Indian tigers, the Iberian lynx, and isolated pumas attempt to measure load and detect purging, and the debate over whether purging meaningfully rescues populations or leaves a residue of mildly harmful variants. It discusses the implications for genetic rescue, the risk that introducing new variation reintroduces masked deleterious alleles, and how understanding load and purging refines predictions about the long-term viability of bottlenecked cat populations.