Because of this history, Novak said scientists waited until he survived infancy to announce the birth of this latest horse. Even now, they will have to monitor his health for the rest of his life.As for Kurt, he is “very healthy,” Novak says. He currently lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park with his female Przewalski horse, Holly.
Even if two clones remain healthy, they will not be released into the wild, but their children and grandchildren will. Novak says he becomes a breeding stallion when he matures at age three or he’s four. The team also plans to clone more of his Przewalski horses.
Not all are endangered Seeds are suitable for cloning. This technique relies on cell samples from animals, which are not always readily available. (Going one step further, the lack of complete genomes is one reason why efforts aimed at the “extinction” of ancient animals like the woolly mammoth have not used cloning, but instead aim to do so, such as the Asian elephant. editing the DNA of closely related species to create hybrids.)
In addition, domestic species often have to act as surrogate mothers. This reduces the risk of taking endangered species out of their natural habitat and going through surrogacy procedures. But for many endangered species, no livestock are genetically similar enough to have successful pregnancies.
David Jachowski, associate professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, says cloning alone won’t save endangered species. “As scientists, it’s interesting. We’re moving from science fiction to reality,” he says. “But the reality is that releasing more species into the wild won’t make much difference to recovery unless the threats this species faces in the wild are addressed.”
According to him, the real problems threatening most species are their environment, and cloning won’t solve them. Helped coordinate the recovery of the black-footed ferret, a North American animal. The species was endangered after its main food source, the prairie dog, was massively reduced by disease, habitat loss, and poisoning campaigns.
In 2020, the same team that cloned the horse worked with the agency to clone a black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann. However, so far the effort has yielded only one animal, and she has not bred. It focuses on more conventional conservation techniques, such as releasing black-footed ferrets born in the wild into the wild.
Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the nonprofit Center for Biodiversity, doesn’t believe cloning will be a major part of endangered species recovery because of its limitations. He believes that more traditional strategies, such as coping with habitat loss and competing with invasive species, remain the most effective tactics. He considers it a last-ditch effort.
At least for Przewalski horses, cloning offers hope for the future survival of the species. The team that created the new foal hasn’t revealed what kind of animal it will clone next, but there are plenty of options. The San Diego Zoo freezer contains cell lines from over 1,100 species and subspecies, some of which are endangered. Russell is looking forward to his next conservation project. “Hopefully they have more animals in their bank that we can produce in the future,” he says.
