Freezing frogs to save them
Published 09 June, 2008, 06:24
Amphibians around the world are facing tough times – more than 3,000 species are endangered and many have disappeared over the past few decades. In Moscow, scientists are working on ways to preserve some of the rarest species of toads and frogs.
It comes amid a global call to save amphibians with the world's leading conservationists naming 2008 as 'the year of the frog'.
The world is on the brink of losing many of its amphibians. More then 3000 species are endangered and some have already disappeared altogether. Man’s destruction of their natural habitats is largely to blame but now, man’s also coming to the rescue- and in Russia it’s all down to two c’s – conservation and cryogenics.
A Moscow laboratory research team collect sperm and eggs from rare species and, if they’re found to be viable, they’re put on ice. At almost minus 200 degrees scientists can keep them in cryobanks for several years.
And research is improving all the time.
“We’re learning to freeze embryo cells too, to give us a complete genetic picture. We hope that if a certain species does become extinct, we can retrieve the frozen cells and reproduce it,” explains Natalia Sheshova from the Institute of Biophysics.
Moscow zoo is likely to be one of the first places to benefit. It already has a breeding programme for its rare amphibians and also tries to educate those who come to see them.
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