One out of five eggs from Fatu fertilized with semen from Suni developed into a viable embryo with the help of Geri®, an innovative benchtop incubator with integrated continuous embryo monitoring capabilities designed to provide an individualized and undisturbed incubation environment, donated by Merck. After incubating and maturing nine eggs, four from Fatu and one from Najin were fertilized with sperm using a procedure called ICSI (Intra Cytoplasm Sperm Injection). The oocytes were transported immediately to the Avantea Laboratory in Italy. The anesthesia and the ovum pickup went smoothly and without any complications. The animals were placed under general anesthetic and nine immature egg cells (oocytes) – three from Najin and six from Fatu – were harvested from the animals’ ovaries using a probe guided by ultrasound. Preparations for the next steps of the northern white rhino rescue mission are underway.įour months after the groundbreaking first “ovum pickup” in August 2019, the team repeated the procedure with northern white rhinos Najin and Fatu on December 17, 2019, at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The procedure has proven to be safe and reproducible, and can be performed on a regular basis before the animals become too old. This significantly increases the chances of successfully producing offspring. With great support from the Kenyan Government and in the presence of Hon Najib Balala, – Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife – the team repeated the procedure on December 17, 2019, and was able to create a new embryo over Christmas. They harvested eggs from the two remaining females, artificially inseminated those using frozen sperm from deceased males, and created two viable northern white rhino embryos. In August 2019 a team of scientists and conservationists broke new ground in saving the northern white rhinoceros from extinction. In December 2019 the team of scientists and conservationists repeated the egg collection from the northern white rhinos in Kenya and was able to create a new embryo over Christmas.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |