ANIMAL TRANSPLANTS FOR SPECIES SURVIVAL 

(Editor's note: In the beginning computers could only communicate in capital letters. This is one of 20 columns from Dr. Tomorrow's original series, included here to indicate change as well as describe it. Those columns also hold another story, that change is swift and offers both disaster and opportunity.)

MAN'S RECENT RAPID SPURT IN POPULATION GROWTH HAS MADE LIFE ON THIS PLANET A BIT DIFFICULT FOR SOME OTHER RESIDENTS. MANY SPECIES OF ANIMALS, BIRDS AND REPTILES HAVE SEEN THEIR NUMBERS SHRINK AS THEIR HABITATS HAVE BEEN TAKEN OVER BY MAN'S EXPANSION OF THE MODERN WORLD. NOW MODERN SCIENCE MOVES TO PREVENT FURTHER DECLINE IN THE NUMBERS OF SUCH OTHER LIVING THINGS AND INDEED TO EXPAND THEIR NUMBERS AND TO RAPIDLY INCREASE THEIR RANGE OF LOCATIONS.

THE ACCOMPANYING PICTURE COULD HAVE SEEN IN THE PAST, BUT IT WOULDN'T HAVE CONTAINED THE SURPRISE IT DOES TODAY. BABY ZEBRA AMO IS STANDING BESIDE HER SURROGATE MOTHER, MAHOGANY -- A WELSH PONY MARE! THIS ZEBRA FOAL, THE FIRST OF A KIND IN BRITAIN AND ONLY THE SECOND IN THE WHOLE WORLD, WAS BORN AS A RESULT OF AN EMBRYO TRANSPLANT!

THIS EXTRA-SPECIES PREGNANCY IS THE RESULT OF COLLABORATION BY THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON'S INSTITUTE OF ZOOLOGY AND THE THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION EQUINE FERTILITY UNIT AT CAMBRIDGE. BOTH GROUPS ARE DEDICATED TO CONSERVING RARE SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION.

UTILIZING A NON-SURGICAL TECHNIQUE OF FLUSHING THE UTERUS WITH EMBRYO CULTURE MEDIUM, THESE SCIENTISTS LOCATED AND THEN EXTRACTED A ZEBRA EMBRYO, ONLY HALF A MILLIMETRE (FRACTION OF AN INCH) IN DIAMETER AND CONTAINING ONLY 100 CELLS. THIS WAS TAKEN FROM THE GRANT'S ZEBRA MARY, JUST EIGHT DAYS AFTER MATING WITH A GRANT'S STALLION NAMED JEFF. WITHIN FOUR HOURS THE EMBRYO WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE SURROGATE MOTHER IN A NEARBY TOWN, WHOSE OESTROUS CYCLE HAD BEEN SYNCHRONIZED TO THE ORIGINAL "MOTHER" BY AN INJECTION OF THE HORMONE PROSTAGLANDIN.

EMBRYO TRANSPLANTS FIRST GAINED FAME WHEN THEY PROVIDED A RAPID METHOD OF INCREASING CATTLE HERD QUALITY AND QUANTITY AT LOWER COST. NOW THIS ACCEPTED METHOD IS BEING USED TO RE-ESTABLISH MANY TYPES OF ENDANGERED SPECIES.

DR. PHIL SUMMERS, WHO LED THE WORK AT THE LONDON ZOO, HAS ALSO WORKED WITH THE RARE PRZEWALSKI WILD HORSE. FOUR SUCH FOALS HAVE BEEN BORN VIA THIS METHOD DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS. IT IS POSSIBLE TO RECOVER EMBRYOS FROM OTHER RARE SPECIES FOR TRANSFER TO THE UTERI OF DOMESTIC HORSES OR DONKEYS.

THERE IS MORE TO THIS RESEARCH THAN SAVING A SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION. SUCH DEVELOPMENTS CONTRIBUTE TO THE WHOLE STUDY OF EARLY PREGNANCY LOSS, A FAIRLY COMMON OCCURENCE IN THOROUGHBRED MARES. THIS IS IMPORTANT, AS REJECTION WHICH MIGHT BE EXPECTED AS A TYPE OF IMMUNOLOGICAL REACTION BETWEEN SPECIES, CAN NOW, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, BE CONTROLLED.

AMO'S REAL ZEBRA MOTHER MARY IS NOW CARRYING ANOTHER FOAL HERSELF. WHEN THIS BABY IS DELIVERED, AMO WILL HAVE A FULL BROTHER OR SISTER BORN ABOUT TWO MONTHS AFTER HER OWN ARRIVAL.

RARE HUMAN SPECIES COULD ALSO BE SAVED BY THE SAME TECHNIQUES.

MORE INFORMATION:

JOAN CRAMMOND, LONDON ZOO, REGENT'S PARK, LONDON NW1 4RY, ENGLAND.

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