Wednesday, August 23, 2000
Cincinnati Zoo's ocelot birth a first
Embryo transfer successful
By Christine Oliva
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The world's first ocelot kitten produced by embryo transfer made its debut Tuesday at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.
The kitten, whose name Sihil in Mayan means “to be born again,” is the product of a procedure that could be the key to repopulating dying genetic variations of the medium-sized cats.
“Embryo transfer is still a fledgling science and any success is reason for celebration,” said Kenneth Kaemmerer of the Dallas Zoo He coordinates the Ocelot Species Survival Plan. “But this is going to allow us to start up a population of Brazilian ocelots here without the stress of bringing adult animals (here). We can bring in many embryos and even store some. And we can select genetic lines that are unrepresented in the captive population.”
Sihil, along with four of the six adult ocelots in the zoo, are generic ocelots, which means their ancestry is unknown. Genetically, they do not resemble any of the subspecies found in the wild.
But scientists from the zoo's Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife have been working in Brazil to produce and freeze Brazilian ocelot embryos. Currently there are 25 embryos waiting to be transfered to the United States, said Dr. Bill Swanson, head of CREW's ani mal conservation division. Eventually they will be implanted into a generic ocelot, but the result will be a purebred Brazilian kitten.
Ocelots were first listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1972, when they were hunted to near-extinction for their spotted coats. Although there are now about 120 ocelots living in captivity in North American zoos, most of them are generic. The ability to transfer embryos is expected to increase the genetically defined population, Dr. Swanson said.
The procedure requires two small incisions and takes only a few minutes to complete, minimizing the recovery time for the surrogate mother.
Unlike in-vitro fertilization in humans, where the natural reproductive system is shut down and manipulated with hormones, the scientists took advantage of the cat's natural cycle. After ovulation, three embryos were thawed and implanted through a tiny tube. Then the pregnancy watch began.
The cat, named Alicia, gave birth to a single kitten 83 days later and “seems to be taking very good care of it,” Dr. Swanson said.
Sihil was born seven days ago, but the zoo waited until Tuesday to make the announcement. So far, Sihil has had no contact with humans, so its gender is still unknown. It will be several weeks before the doctors make any attempt to disturb Alicia and her kitten.
Until then, the closest look they get will be through the lens of an infrared camera.
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