By Daniel Nasaw and Matt Danzico
BBC News Magazine, Chicago
Zoo biologists use genetic analysis, demographic statistics and keen familiarity to plan the sex lives of their charges. Their goal is to avoid inbreeding and produce healthy offspring, but sometimes, even the best scientists and most attentive zoo-keepers cannot prevent a tragedy.
The couple seemed like a good pair.
Already sporting a distinguished coat of grey fur at the age of 22, he was a stout, hale and hearty father of a young son.
She was a bit younger - 16 - but those who knew her thought she was ready for motherhood.
And crucially, the computer analysis showed they did not share any recent ancestors, making them a good genetic match.
So, in a Chicago love story, zoo-keepers brought together Kwan, a male silverback western lowland gorilla, and Bana, a demure female. They hit it off, and on 16 November, Bana gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
Managed sex lives
"Kwan did a really great job," said Maureen Leahy, curator of primates at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, in an interview shortly before the birth.
"This romance and match has actually paid off."
The pairing of Kwan and Bana was the product of a sophisticated breeding plan devised by a team of biologists to ensure the future genetic health of the US gorilla population.
The western lowland gorillas are just one of more than 300 species of animals in zoos across the US whose sex lives are carefully managed by the Population Management Center at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Species specialists play matchmaker to anteaters, okapis, hyacinth macaws and many others, with more than 80,000 individual critters subject to their plans.
It's similar to internet dating, said Sarah Long, the centre's director.
"We use computers and databases to get a male and female together - and sometimes produce offspring," she said.
"We're not getting new founders... wild-born animals. Now zoos are more focused on preserving what we have."
The computer software they use weighs the pedigree of the males and females, in some cases all the way back to the wild, to determine whether they are a good genetic match.
Ideally, they want two animals whose ancestors' genes are scarce among the population - that is, they have few relatives living in US zoos.
Other factors include the ages of the possible mates and the distance between them, and whether a zoo has the resources to feed and care for another one.
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