Research at Frozen Zoo gene bank aims to resurrect extinct species
Posted: February 11, 2015 at 9:47 pm
By Julie Watson The Associated Press
Nola, a 40-year-old northern white rhino who is only one of five remaining of the species, wanders around her enclosure at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on a cold winter day in Escondido, Calf. The survival of the northern white rhinoceros and dozens of other species could hinge on the Frozen Zoo, whose collection amassed over nearly 40 years has become the largest gene bank of its kind.
ESCONDIDO, Calif. Whenever an endangered animal dies at the San Diego Zoo, researchers race out, regardless of the hour, to remove its sperm or eggs, maybe a bit of ear or eyeball, and carefully freeze the cells in liquid nitrogen.
Today, the survival of the northern white rhinoceros and dozens of other species could hinge on the collection amassed over nearly 40 years that has become the largest gene bank of its kind: The Frozen Zoo.
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The icy vials may one day be used in experiments to resurrect recently extinct animals, like the Hawaiian Poouli bird. The stainless steel tanks hold the genetic material of more than 10,000 individual animals from more than 1,000 species and subspecies.
The Frozen Zoos work has taken on renewed urgency since the San Diego Safari Park lost 42-year-old Angalifu to cancer in December, leaving only five northern white rhinos left in the world and all unable to reproduce.
Barbara Durant, director of reproductive physiology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, a.k.a. the Frozen Zoo, stands on the rail of a nitrogen-cooled stainless steel vat holding hundreds of vials of animal cells at the Beckman Center at the San Diego Zoos Safari Park in Escondido, Calif.
Scientists are racing to find the best way to utilize the banks frozen sperm to produce another one before the northern white goes extinct, which could happen within a decade.
Critics question whether its worth spending millions of dollars on species that are down to so few.
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Research at Frozen Zoo gene bank aims to resurrect extinct species