A rare endangered Przewalski¡¯s horse was created from cells taken from a stallion and frozen 40 years ago, at the San Diego Zoo. The cells were fused with an egg from a domestic horse; the result? Little Kurt.?
The egg¡¯s nucleus was removed to ensure Kurt would be all Przewalski¡¯s horse; they were implanted in the mare who became Kurt¡¯s mom sometime back.?
This is the world¡¯s first cloned Przewalski¡¯s horse.
Kurt¡¯s birth is being seen as a milestone in efforts to restore the population of the horse also known as the Asiatic Wild Horse or Mongolian Wild Horse. The small, stocky animals that stand only about 4 to 5 feet tall at the withers, are believed to be extinct in the wild and there are only about 2,000 in zoos the wild. Their limited gene pool puts them at a reproductive disadvantage.
¡°This colt is expected to be one of the most genetically important individuals of his species. We are hopeful that he will bring back genetic variation important for the future of the Przewalski¡¯s horse population,¡± Associated Press quoted Bob Wiese, chief life sciences officer at San Diego Zoo Global - which operates the zoo - as saying in a statement.?
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The planning of Kurt¡¯s birth started way back in 1980 when cells were taken from a five-year-old stallion and put in deep freeze at San Diego¡¯s Frozen Zoo facility. Kurt¡¯s father died in 1998.?
Kurt is named after Kurt Benirschke, who played a key role in founding the Frozen Zoo, with its extensive research program and cell cultures.
¡°A central tenet of the Frozen Zoo, when it was established by Dr. Benirschke, was that it would be used for purposes not possible at the time,¡± Oliver Ryder, director of genetics at San Diego Zoo Global, said.?
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The zoo worked in collaboration with the California conservation group Revive & Restore and the Texas-based company ViaGen Equine.
Kurt will go on to live with his mother for another year, then, eventually he will become a part of zoo¡¯s Przewalski¡¯s horse population, where, the hope is, someday he¡¯ll become a father himself.
Przewalski¡¯s horses are named after Russian explorer Nikolai Przewalski - who found a skull and hide of one and shared it with a Russian museum - who lived throughout Europe and Asia at one point, according to the Smithsonian¡¯s National Zoo and Biology Conservation Institute. Encroachment limited their habitat which lead to their subsequent endangering.?
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