Scientists Believe 'Frozen Zoo' Could Be Key to Saving Endangered Species Customs Today
go to original March 2, 2015

Scientists Hope 'Frozen Zoo' Genetic Bank Will Help Stop Extinction (CBS/PigMine2)

Scientists at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are working on a project that, they hope, may be a last chance solution for many of the planet’s endangered species. Their “frozen zoo,” as it has been called, contains cell samples from thousands of creatures.

The complicated technology that researchers are refining converts animals’ skin cells into stem cells. These, in turn, will become the egg and sperm necessary for in-vitro fertilization in a surrogate mother of a similar or related species. Theoretically, the process would eventually result in new offspring of the endangered animal.

The process has been tested successfully in mice, but now scientists are focused on a bigger target: the northern white rhinoceros. Only five northern white rhinos remain in the world, and friends of the animal kingdom are desperate to keep the species from dying out. Nola, a northern white rhino who lives in the Safari Park, is nearing 41 years old – the equivalent of about 80 in human years. “She’s at the end of her life,” said zookeeper Jane Kennedy.

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