It is a major scientific leap – or at least a leap.
The researchers in Australia said on Thursday that they first produced the first kangaroo embryos through fertilization in the laboratory, in a penetration that might help save Endangered species From extinction.
Australia Not less than kangaroo – the Liar Usually eaten there – but it is from A group of locust mammals This was mostly found in the country and has I lost many types of extinction.
The main researcher and lecturer of the University of Queenzland Andres Gambini said that the use of researchers for eggs and asking researchers in kangaroo and sperm may help support the preservation of these Marines.
“Our team has been based on years of experience working with reproductive techniques in pets such as livestock and horses,” Gambini told NBC News via email. “By adapting these techniques to unique kangaroo biology, we were able to create a fetus in the laboratory for the first time.”
Search scientists will help learn more on how to grow the lactops because the class multiplies differently for other mammals.
“I have a very short pregnancy, and the fetus can enter into the animation suspended for several months,” Gambini said. “Our success with artificial insemination helps us to better understand these early stages of development.”
Australia is one of the most world countries in the world, but it also has The highest rate of mammal extinction. The Board of Gasement in Australia says that since the European settlement has become extinct at least 33 species of mammals, with many of these parties.
The historically high extinction rate led the Australian government in 2022 to the announcement of ten years, “Zero extinction” plan To protect those who are threatened, keeping at least 30 % of the country’s land bloc to preserve.
“If we continue to do what we do, more plants and animals will be extinct,” the Australian Environment Minister said in the report. “Even Kualao is now threatened on the eastern coast of Australia.”
Now, more than 2,200 species are classified in the country as being threatened with extinction, according to 2023 a report By the Australian Conservation Foundation is not profitable.
The report said: “The laws aimed at protecting the nature of Australia fail,” adding that the main preservation policy in the country because it was “hardly monitored, and is rarely implemented and full of gaps that allow companies to destroy nature.”
While the kangaroo is not threatened with extinction, the University of Queensland University researchers hope that the latest penetration can help in preservation The home of the continent, including koalaTasmania demons and northern hair tumors.
“This work gives us a new tool to help maintain genetic materials in endangered species,” Gambini said. “By creating and freezing embryos, we can protect the unique heredity of these animals.”
This is not the first time that artificial insemination has been used as a tool to maintain endangered species.
Last year, scientists in Italy He achieved the first unicorn pregnancy in the world, Hope is made in saving the northern white -white rhinogeneous of Kenya – which only two animals remain on this planet – from extinction. They did this by transferring a unicorn fetus that the laboratory created to an alternative mother.
However, the latest artificial insemination penetration is just one step on a long way to a more comprehensive solution, Gambini said.
“There are many unknown people, because we are only at the beginning, and there is a lot to discover it yet,” he said, adding that when it is associated with other strategies, “it can make a real difference of the species at risk.”
