第2098期:Researchers Announce Successful Rhino Embryo Transfer

Scientists in Berlin announced recently the first successful embryo transfer in a white rhinoceros.

柏林的科学家最近宣布首次在白犀牛身上成功进行胚胎移植。

The transfer, which occurred in a southern white rhinoceros, offers hope for saving the northern white rhino from completely dying off.

这次发生在南方白犀牛身上的转移，为拯救北方白犀牛免于完全灭绝带来了希望。

The white rhinoceros includes two different subspecies, the northern and the southern. The last male northern white rhino died in 2018. Only two female members of the subspecies remain. Neither of them can carry a baby.

白犀牛包括两个不同的亚种：北方和南方。 最后一头雄性北方白犀牛于 2018 年死亡。该亚种只剩下两只雌性成员。 他们俩都不能带孩子。

Southern white rhinos are more numerous.

南方白犀牛数量较多。

Researchers hope to use eggs and sperm from northern white rhinos to produce embryos that will be put into southern white rhino surrogate mothers.

研究人员希望利用北方白犀牛的卵子和精子产生胚胎，并将其放入南方白犀牛代孕母亲体内。

A surrogate is something that performs the duties of something else.

代理人是履行其他职责的事物。

To test the plan, scientists said they transferred the embryo of a southern white rhino into a surrogate southern white rhino mother at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on September 24, 2023.

为了测试该计划，科学家表示，他们于 2023 年 9 月 24 日将南方白犀牛的胚胎转移到肯尼亚奥尔佩杰塔保护区的南方白犀牛代孕母亲体内。

However, the research team only learned of the pregnancy after the surrogate mother died of a bacterial infection in November 2023. The embryo was discovered during an examination of the body after death.

然而，研究团队直到2023年11月代孕母亲因细菌感染死亡后才得知怀孕的消息。胚胎是在死后检查尸体时发现的。

Even with the death, researchers found reasons to be hopeful.

即使死亡，研究人员也找到了充满希望的理由。

The international BioRescue team, a group backed by the German government, confirmed recently that the operation had produced a successful pregnancy of 70 days, with a well-developed 6.4-centimeter-long male embryo.

德国政府支持的国际BioRescue团队最近证实，手术已成功怀孕70天，并拥有发育良好的6.4厘米长的雄性胚胎。

"We achieved together something which was not believed to be possible," said Thomas Hildebrandt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

莱布尼茨动物园和野生动物研究所的托马斯·希尔德布兰特 (Thomas Hildebrandt) 表示：“我们共同实现了人们认为不可能的事情。”

"That is really a milestone to allow us to produce northern white rhino calves in the next two, two and a half years," Hildebrandt said.

希尔德布兰特说：“这确实是一个里程碑，让我们能够在未来两年、两年半内培育出北方白犀牛幼崽。”

The northern white rhinoceros subspecies has only two known examples left in the world. The Ol-Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya says that Najin, a 34-year-old, and her 23-year-old offspring, Fatu, both cannot naturally reproduce.

北方白犀牛亚种世界上仅存两个已知实例。 肯尼亚奥尔佩杰塔自然保护区表示，34 岁的纳金和她 23 岁的后代法图都无法自然繁殖。

In 2018, the last male white rhino, Sudan, was 45 when he was euthanized because of age-related problems. He was Najin’s father. Scientists stored his semen and that of four other dead rhinos.

2018年，最后一头雄性白犀牛苏丹因年龄相关问题被安乐死，当时它已经45岁了。 他是纳金的父亲。 科学家储存了他的精液和其他四头死去的犀牛的精液。

Some conservation groups have argued that it is probably too late to save the northern white rhino using the method known as in vitro fertilization.

一些保护组织认为，使用体外受精的方法来拯救北方白犀牛可能为时已晚。

The species once lived in Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Congo and Central African Republic, but human conflict has caused the creature to disappear. Critics say the efforts made to save the northern white rhino should instead go to save at-risk species that have a better chance to survive.

该物种曾经生活在乍得、苏丹、乌干达、刚果和中非共和国，但人类冲突导致该生物消失。 批评者表示，拯救北方白犀牛的努力应该去拯救那些有更好生存机会的濒危物种。

About 20,000 southern white rhinos remain in Africa. That subspecies and another species, the black rhino, are increasing in number after illegal hunting nearly caused their disappearance.

非洲仍有约 20,000 头南方白犀牛。 该亚种和另一个物种黑犀牛的数量在非法狩猎几乎导致其消失后正在增加。