Animals Near Extinction Being Frozen: 

It's all happening at the 'frozen zoo' 

Margot Higgins / ENN 15mar01

Human population growth, pollution and habitat loss are taking a heavy toll on Earth's wildlife, scientists have long warned.

Every hour, one animal species disappears from the planet, according to some estimates.

So where might one find a Noah's ark in the 21st century? It's all happening at the University of New Orleans' "frozen zoo."

The zoo consists of a frozen stockpile of embryos, eggs, sperm and other cells collected from endangered species and preserved in liquid nitrogen. The idea is that the samples can be thawed and used to produce offspring if an animal nears extinction.

"We're banking DNA that we know can result in babies," explains Betsy Dresser, director of the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species at the zoo. "If someone had thought to do this with the mammoths or the dinosaurs, they might still be around."

Instead of attempting to store the genetic blueprint of every species in existence, scientists at the zoo are taking a species-by-species approach to make sure that they have a thorough understanding of every organism that the zoo preserves. So far they have invested in about 50 species, and Dresser hopes they will add about 200 species over the next 10 years.

"Trying to confirm that every species can make a baby is a slow process," Dresser explains. "It is not simply a matter of freezing and thawing."

Since every species has a different reproductive system, scientists at the zoo have their work cut out for them.

Dresser is recognized around the world for her work with in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer with endangered species including bongo antelope, gorillas, and exotic cats. Under her direction, the zoo recently delivered a rare African wildcat named Jazz from a frozen embryo that had been implanted in a house cat.

The zoo is working on a field project in Kenya to breed endangered bongos in a common eland species in an area where the bongos are extinct.

"I believe this will be a very powerful tool for the future of wildlife," Dresser says. "It’s a whole new way of reintroducing animals. You can move a heard of antelope in a single nitrogen tank. Some day, I believe all animals, wild and domestic, will be transported this way."

Yet some conservationists have voiced concerns that the New Orleans zoo and others like it will only serve as a temporary solution, diverting necessary attention from habitat loss, which many groups claim is the biggest threat to wildlife.

To that argument Dresser responds, "What happens if saving habitat doesn't work?"

While she supports habitat protection as an essential part of species conservation, Dresser also believes there is no single answer to saving wildlife. "Some species are disappearing faster than we can count them. We need to become partners in the war against extinction."