‘Klondike’, Puppy Born from Embryo Transfer, Serves as Hope for Endangered Species

"Klondlike" the puppy born from a frozen embryo
Photo from: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/blogs/dnews-files-2013-02-Klondike-Puppy-660x433-jpg.jpg

Embryo transfer is a procedure in which embryos from a donor female are transferred to the uterus of a recipient female.  The recipient female would then serve as the surrogate mother for the remainder of pregnancy.  Embryo transfer procedures could be applied to every species of animal.  The science of this procedure is rapidly developing and potential applications continue to increase with the development of new technology.

Embryo transfer could be used to save species of endangered animals from extinction.  And this could be proven with the existence of a puppy which was born from a frozen embryo.  ‘Klondike’, the puppy’s name, is a beagle-labrador mix.  Even though, the beagle and the Labrador breeds are not endangered, Klondike’s existence proves that endangered species, like the ‘red wolf’, could be saved from extinction with the use of frozen embryo techniques.  Scientists from the Cornell University could now proudly announce that the frozen embryo technique on Klondike was successful since Klondike was able to live up to 9 months old and would seem to live many more months to come since he appears to be a typical puppy since he is extremely playful, energetic, and curious.

Klondike’s mother was fertilized using artificial insemination.  The resulting embryos were collected and frozen until another beagle (Klondike’s surrogate mother) was ready to receive the embryo.

“Reproduction in dogs is remarkably different than in other mammals,” Alex Travis, who worked on the project and is director of Cornell’s campus-wide Center for Wildlife Conservation, said in a press release.

“We’re working to understand these differences so we can tackle issues ranging from developing contraceptives to preserving the genetic diversity of endangered animals through assisted reproduction.”

Blogpost by: Elaine Lee Ramos

References:

Department of Herd Medicine & Theriogenology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 0W0 Canada Retrieved from: http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v2/n2/abs/nbt0284-149.html

Jennifer Viegas. Puppy 'Klondike' Born from Frozen Embryo. Last Updated: February 5, 2013 Retrieved from: http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets/puppy-klondike-born-from-a-frozen-embryo-130205.htm