{"id":13505,"date":"2012-08-15T02:43:59","date_gmt":"2012-08-15T00:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/08\/operation-frozen-dumbo-gets-elephant-tonga-pregnant\/"},"modified":"2012-08-15T02:43:59","modified_gmt":"2012-08-15T00:43:59","slug":"operation-frozen-dumbo-gets-elephant-tonga-pregnant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/operation-frozen-dumbo-gets-elephant-tonga-pregnant\/","title":{"rendered":""Operation Frozen Dumbo" gets elephant Tonga pregnant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

VIENNA<\/span> Aug 14 (Reuters) – Scientists have succeeded for the
\nfirst time in impregnating an elephant with frozen sperm,
\nultrasound pictures presented by Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo showed
\non Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The scan shows a 10.6-centimetre-long (4.2 inch),
\nfive-month-old elephant foetus with its trunk, legs, tail, eyes
\nand ears clearly discernible.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The foetus, which was scanned in April, is likely now 20 cm
\nlong, the zoo said, and is due to be born to 26-year-old African
\nelephant Tonga in or around August 2013 after a pregnancy of
\nabout 630 days.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Elephants have been impregnated with fresh or refrigerated
\nsperm in the past in an effort to protect endangered species,
\nbut frozen sperm can be transported further, and allows the
\nfemale elephant to be inseminated at her most fertile time.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The sperm was taken from a sedated wild elephant in South
\nAfrica using electroejaculation in the project known internally
\nas “Operation Frozen Dumbo,” a zoo spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It took eight months to clear customs on its way to France
\ndue to lack of an established procedure for such wares.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The project was a joint effort of Schoenbrunn Zoo, Berlin’s
\nLeibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, France’s
\nBeauval Zoo and Pittsburgh Zoo in the United States.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Both African and Asian species of elephant are endangered,
\nespecially the Asian, mainly due to poaching for meat and ivory
\ntusks and destruction of their habitats.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Around 2,000 elephants live in zoos, and a further 15,000
\nAsian elephants are estimated to be kept privately, employed in
\nthe timber industry or living in temples.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Since the survival of elephants in their natural habitat is
\nunder threat, zoos around the world are striving to preserve
\nthem,” said Schoenbrunn Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Artificial insemination with the semen of a wild bull
\nelephant is a chance to enrich the gene pool to further species
\nconservation,” she said, adding that there were five female
\nelephants living in zoos to every one male.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Heinz-Peter Bader and Georgina Prodhan, editing
\nby Paul Casciato)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VIENNA Aug 14 (Reuters) – Scientists have succeeded for the first time in impregnating an elephant with frozen sperm, ultrasound pictures presented by Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo showed on Tuesday. The scan shows a 10.6-centimetre-long (4.2 inch), five-month-old elephant foetus with its trunk, legs, tail, eyes and ears clearly discernible. The foetus, which was scanned in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-13505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}