Housecat gives birth to rare wildcat kitten
Date: 14-Dec-99
Country: USA
The Audubon Institute Centre for Research of Endangered Species in New
Orleans said it hoped to use the method to help save the wildcat, which
is endangered.
The embryo came from the Institute's "frozen zoo," which it hopes to use
as a source to replenish a number of rare species. By using a less-rare
animal to gestate the embryo frees up the rarer specimens to produce
more eggs.
"More animals will become extinct in our lifetime than at any other time
in the history of mankind," Ron Forman, chief executive officer of the
institute, said in a statement.
"We at the Audubon Institute are developing technology to freeze and
stockpile reproductive material, using common, non-endangered animal
surrogates to increase the birthrate for endangered species."
Wildcats, which look very much like their domestic cousins, are the
smallest of the exotic cats.