The recovery of endangered wildlife has benefited from the development of assisted reproductive technologies including tools ranging from straightforward artificial insemination to more complex approaches like in vitro fertilization and sperm/embryo sexing.
Although producing offspring is not yet routine using these techniques, the field is rapidly advancing and one day should benefit greatly from the current practices of freezing sperm (cryopreservation) and embryos as well as blood, tissue, and DNA (also advantageous for genomics/DNA evaluations). Reproductive assessments, including sperm and hormonal evaluations, play an important role in supporting the growth of C2S2 target populations, as well as the ability to cryo-bank biomaterials from the most valuable individuals in a population. This ‘ancestry preservation’ is a proven way of extending the generation interval of animals in the contemporary population, allowing these genes to be recirculated decades from now to prevent genetic drift and to maintain species vitality.
Although producing offspring is not yet routine using these techniques, the field is rapidly advancing and one day should benefit greatly from the current practices of freezing sperm (cryopreservation) and embryos as well as blood, tissue, and DNA (also advantageous for genomics/DNA evaluations). Reproductive assessments, including sperm and hormonal evaluations, play an important role in supporting the growth of C2S2 target populations, as well as the ability to cryo-bank biomaterials from the most valuable individuals in a population. This ‘ancestry preservation’ is a proven way of extending the generation interval of animals in the contemporary population, allowing these genes to be recirculated decades from now to prevent genetic drift and to maintain species vitality.
