Scientists say the successful cheetah procedure can help them 'develop new tools' for other endangered species
According to the zoo, scientists collected semen from a male cheetah living at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas last year and froze it. They then harvested eggs from Kibibi on Nov. 19, 2019, and fertilized them with the sperm.
“Kibibi had never given birth to a cub and is genetically valuable, but she is unlikely to ever reproduce on her own. Her valuable genes were at risk of never being passed on,” the National Zoo explained. “Izzy, the surrogate, is less genetically valuable and is not currently recommended to breed, but she was hand-raised as a cub and very comfortable with keepers, which made her a good candidate as a surrogate cheetah mom.
While scientists have been studying IVF and embryo transfer in cheetahs for 15 years, but this was only the third attempt at the procedure. “Just the fact that we were successful with embryo transfer after only the third attempt gives me hope for the future of this technique for improving cheetah management, potentially on a global scale,” she added. “This is a huge scientific breakthrough and, in many ways, is much better because it gives us much more flexibility with limited genetic material. This is an amazing milestone for cheetahs — we can extend a cheetah’s biological clock.
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