The two smallest relic populations of Cape Mountain Zebra occur in the Kammanassie and Gamka Mountains. With small populations,Lloyd, P.H. 1984. The Cape mountain zebra 1984. African Wildlife 38: 144- 149Millar, J.C.G. 1970. Census of Cape mountain zebra: part I. African Wildlife 24: 17-25. severe population bottlenecks can have serious genetic consequences. This can reduce genetic variation and leave populations open to the effects of inbreeding, with continuing loss of genetic diversity due to genetic drift. If left uncontrolled, inbreeding may reach levels where fitness is compromised thereby leading to extinction.Moodley, Y. 2002. Population structuring in Southern African zebras. PhD thesis, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, RSA. The Kammanassie population is critically important for the maintenance of the genetic diversity of Cape Mountain Zebra and accounts for a third of the genetic variation of the meta-population.
