Meet Kurt , the existence ’s first successfully clone Przewalski ’s horse who could help save this endangered and desperately cute species of barbaric horse .
The cloned foal was born on August 6 as part of a collaborative project between Revive & Restore , ViaGen Equine , and San Diego Zoo Global Frozen Zoo ® using 40 - yr - old cryopreserved transmitted material , according toan announcementby the zoo . He has been named “ Kurt ” in honor of Kurt Benirschke , a renowned scientist who set up theFrozen Zooand toy a cardinal role in the cryopreservation of transmitted material from a number of endangered specie .
“ This new Przewalski ’s colt was born fully healthy and reproductively normal , ” Shawn Walker , principal scientific discipline officer at ViaGen Equine , said in astatement . “ He is head butting and boot , when his blank is challenged , and he is demand Milk River supply from his foster female parent . ”
The untried male , born to a surrogate , is a clon of a Przewalski ’s ( pronounced “ shuh - VAL - skees ” ) horse entire name Kuporovic that was birth in 1975 in the UK , before being channel to the US in 1978 , living there until 1998 . His genes had been stored at the SDZG Frozen Zoo ® since 1980 , look for the necessary cloning technology to become uncommitted .
“ 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 , ” explained Oliver Ryder , Ph.D. , director of genetic science at San Diego Zoo Global . “ Now , the living cellular phone in the Frozen Zoo are add to reverse losses of genetic diverseness and contributing to universe sustainability . The jail cell of one C of Przewalski ’s horses reside in the Frozen Zoo , and mold the basis for Modern chance in applying scientific research to keep mintage into the future . ”
Przewalski ’s horsesare the last truly wild horse . They ’re named after Nikołaj Przewalski , a Russian Internet Explorer who first discovered the horse in 1881 after hearing fib of its existence . Once common in the steppe of central Asia , the metal money was extinct in the wild until a telephone number of someone were re-introduce to its native home ground in Mongolia . Nevertheless , the species is still in a lot of worry . Since all living horses are come to to 12 Przewalski ’s horse born in the wild , their inherited diverseness remain crushed . Once Kurt is old enough to multiply , it ’s hoped the clone individual will help to bring back some much - needed genetic diversity for the Przewalski ’s gymnastic horse population .
“ This colt is expected to be one of the most genetically important individuals of his species , ” said Bob Wiese , PhD , chief life sentence sciences officer at San Diego Zoo Global .
Frommacaque monkey to CAT , a whole legion of creature species have been cloned in recent twelvemonth . Perhaps most illustrious of all was"Dolly " the sheep , the first mammalian to have been successfully cloned from an adult somatic electric cell in 1996 . One lesser - have intercourse story , however , is that of the Pyrenean ibex : an extinct fauna that wasresurrected by clone in 2003 .
