News Bytes of the Week--Przewalski's Prize: Vets Reverse Vasectomy on Endangered Horse [News]
Back out to stud: veterinarians perform first reverse vasectomy on an endangered horse Veterinarians at the Smithsonian Institute's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., announced this week that they reversed a vasectomy that had been performed nearly a decade ago on a Przewalski's horse (pronounced "zshah-VAL-skeez"), a short, stocky breed that only grows to about four feet (1.3 meters) tall. About 1,500 of the animals have been raised in zoos worldwide since 1970, when they were declared extinct in the wild in their native Mongolia nd China. Fearing a loss of genetic diversity in the tiny remaining population, scientists surveyed captive Przewalski's horses in search a set of genes worthy of being passed on. One of their primo candidates: a 20-year-old male named Minnesota, a former resident of the Minnesota Zoo. Alas, it turned out that Minnesota had had a vasectomy in 1999 so that he could be housed with but not impregnate female Przewalski's horses. A first attempt to reverse his vasectomy in March 2007 failed, but zoo officials say a second effort seven months later seems to have done the trick. National Zoo scientists hope to arrange a rendezvous between Minnesota and a suitable female next month. [More]