N.Z. zoo antelopes to -get frozen semen

Press, 4 November 1986, Page 35

N.Z. zoo antelopes to -get frozen semen

By

HUGH BARLOW

NZPA staff correspondent London Auckland Zoo’s herd of black buck antelope could be the first beneficiaries of a scientific breakthrough at London Zoo. Researchers led by Dr Bill Holt have for the first time in the world managed to freeze the semen of an exotic animal with-

out destroying the animal’s fertility. The breakthrough came after four years of work, said a zoo spokeswoman, Ms Sue Copsey. The first recipients of the frozen semen, outside London’s own herd of the Indian antelope, would be the Auckland animals, she said. A special consignment would be flown to New Zealand and she hoped confirmation of a preg-

nancy would be available within a couple of months. Ms Copsey said that in spite of successes in freezing cattle and human semen, attempts to do the same with wild animals had always failed. Dr Holt’s work, if it could be repeated with other species, would give a huge boost to efforts to maintain endangered species, she said. “Perhaps the biggest problem facing many zoos is inbreeding, which eventually causes all sorts of horrible characteristics in animals, as in humans. “If the technique of freezing semen works, as we hope it- will, it will allow zoos to introduce the fresh blood they need without having to pay the costs of carting an animal across the world and putting it in quarantine. “At the same time it

will allow herds to stay intact,” she said. “It really is quite a marvellous breakthrough. The implications for saving other species in the future are amazing.” London Zoo had tried to freeze elephant and gnu semen without success. Ms Copsey said the researchers were still not sure why the experiments with the antelope succeeded, but they hoped that by comparing the data from the different projects they would be able to pinpoint the reason. Dr Holt’s team has had several successes with artificial insemination. London’s giant panda successfully fathered a baby in Madrid artificially, but the technique depended on fresh semen being transported to Spain within hours.