What is the minimum amount of a species required to maintain a healthy genetically diverse population?

Question

What is the minimum amount of a species required to maintain a healthy genetically diverse population?

Answer 1

In theory, two, if their genotypes are very different.

Answer 2

bout 10,000

Answer 3

Define 'healthy'. The issue many zoos have been facing with trying to save populations is determining whether they have enough animals to maintain the species. Most have said that they need 30-60 animals in order to maintain a good genetic pool. However, its clear that in the case of cheetahs, the genetic bottleneck may have gotten lower than this and at this point, the cheetah is still genetically healthy, if not very diverse.