"The Elephants Guide to Sex"

"Jackson" the Elephant at Pittsburg Zoo
Elephants can produce 300mls of sperm 5 times a day
Elephants can be stimulated by prostate massage to collect sperm
AI is carried out by placement of catheter 1.5m inside & semen inserted
Captive breeding is essential in maintaining species
1. 3 subspecies of tigers have died out, 14 subspecies of kangaroos are at threat and rate of extinction is 10,000x natural rate
Only 4 Northern White Rhinos left in wild (in Zaire). Only 9 in captivity
1. Mating can take an hour. Semen collected using electric shocks
Ecosystems are important and complex
1. e.g. wolves killed by humans, so increased number of deer, decreased oak tree saplings
1/3 cheetahs in captivity are too old to breed. Though eggs can be collected using suction on ovary
Human fertility issues and solutions can be applied to animals. Also equipment
Animals at top of food chain link different food chains and animals. So saving them, saves lots of species
Black footed ferrets have been saved through AI. However did not work with Northern White Rhinos
Only 2% of implanting DNA as a close works
Cloning sandcats involves egg from cat & DNA from skin cell from sandcat. Electric shocks are used to send skin cell DNA to fertilise cell. Domestic cat=surrogate mother
Cloning: no diversity, not ethical, why would you try and save a species who can't breed by themselves?, can't live as long, more prone to illness

Resource summary

	Created by serenacutbill over 11 years ago