An Indian rhino was born from the sperm of a male rhino that has been dead for ten years, Buffalo Zoo officials said Thursday.
The rhino's father, named Jimmy, died at Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo in 2004, but his sperm has remained frozen ever since, Fox 19 reported. Reproductive experts used the sperm to inseminate a female rhino at the Buffalo Zoo in New York, who then gave birth to a 144-pound female rhino named Monica on June 6.
It is the first time a rhino has been born from artificial insemination.
"[Monica's] father passed away 10 years ago now, and we actually get to bring his genetics back into the line," Joe Hauser, head rhino keeper at the Buffalo Zoo, told The Buffalo News. "So that is the biggest thing with this artificial insemination, that her father never sired a calf before and now, 10 years later that he's passed away, we can actually still breed him."
Jimmy's sperm had to be thawed after it was kept frozen at 320 degrees below-zero at the Cincinnati Zoo's Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife CryoBioBank, Fox 19 reported.
Hauser worked with a Cincinnati doctor that specializes in animal reproduction and a Buffalo Zoo veterinarian to prepare Monica's mother, Tashi, for insemination. Sixteen months later, Monica was born.
Hauser and his team hopes the successful birth will help replenish the endangered rhino population. They are often killed for their horns, which are believed to cure diseases.
"But it's scientifically proven that the rhino horn does nothing," Hauser told The Buffalo News.
It will take several weeks for visitors to be able to see Monica because she is still too weak. In the meantime Tashi, who was separated from her first two offspring, is taking very good care of Monica.
"She is a great mother," Hauser told The Buffalo News. "She does not let the calf out of her sight. She lets her nurse whenever she wants to nurse, if she's standing up, lying down. She'll make sure she's always in a safe place."
