Watching the two little lion cubs boisterously play with each other at a
conservation centre outside of South Africa's capital Pretoria, it's
hard to see anything out of the ordinary.
But these cubs are unique.
"These are the first ever lion cubs to be born by means of artificial
insemination -- the first such pair anywhere in the world," announced
the University of Pretoria, whose scientists are researching the
reproductive system of female African lions.
The two cubs, a male and female, born on August 25 are healthy and
normal, said Andre Ganswindt, the director of the University of
Pretoria's mammal research institute.
His team's breakthrough came after 18 months of intensive trials.
"We collected sperm from a healthy lion," Ganswindt told AFP.
Then when the lioness' hormone levels were found to be viable, she was inseminated artificially.
"And luckily it was successful," said Ganswindt, adding that "there were
several attempts, but surprisingly it didn't take too much effort".
He said the breakthrough could be repeated, with scientists hoping the technique can be used to save other endangered big cats.
Lions are extinct in 26 African countries and numbers in the wild have
plummeted 43 percent over the last two decades, with roughly only 20,000
left, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), which lists the African lion as vulnerable.
"If we are not doing something about it, they will face extinction," said Ganswindt.
- 'Another tool in conservation box' -
He said that rather than move the lions for breeding, the new technique
would let breeders to simply transport the sperm to receptive females,
as is done with the captive elephant population in Northern America and
Europe.
The findings are part of research being done by Isabel Callealta, a
Spanish veterinarian and PhD student at the University of Pretoria
Callealta personally trained the lions to lie next to a fence, where
they would freely give blood samples to determine hormonal levels and
assess the perfect time for insemination.
The research was carried out at the Ukutula Conservation Center, 80
kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Pretoria in South Africa's North West
province.
Imke Lueders, a scientist involved in the study, said "having the first
lion cubs ever born from artificial insemination in their natural range
country, and not in a zoo overseas, is an important milestone for South
Africa".
"Assisted reproduction techniques are another tool in our conservation
box, of course not a sole solution, but another technology that we can
use to protect endangered species," she said.
Andre Mentz, a prominent lion breeder in South Africa's Free State
province, described the birth of the cubs as "very revolutionary".
But animal welfare organisations are less enthused.
"The captive lion breeding industry in South Africa is exploitative and
profit-driven," said Mark Jones of the Born Free Foundation.
"It generates its income through interaction activities (lion cub
petting and lion walks), canned trophy hunting of lions and the lion
skeleton trade, while contributing nothing to lion conservation," he
added.
A group of 18 international and African conservation organisations wrote
a letter addressed to the scientists saying they do not support the
study, but did acknowledge artificial insemination could help other
imperilled wild cats like the cheetah.
However Paul Funston of wild cat conservation organisation Panthera
raised fears about "anything new which gives any validity to the captive
lion industry".
After all, he said, "in captivity lions breed like flies –- most cats do".
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/41122
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
No comments:
Post a Comment