A critically endangered Puerto Rican toad was for the first time born via in vitro fertilization as U.S. scientists attempt to save it from extinction.
A critically endangered Puerto Rican toad was born for the first time via in vitro fertilization as U.S. scientists attempt to save it from extinction, officials announced Friday.
Barber was part of a team that traveled to the southwest town of Guayanilla last year to collect semen from six male Puerto Rican crested toads that were later released back into the wild. The scientists were careful to select bigger toads that had what are called “nuptial pads” on their thumbs, which indicate sexual maturity and help them grab on to females, she said.Extracting semen from toads that measure up to 4.
Efforts to save the Puerto Rican crested toad date back a couple of decades, but this is the first time in vitro fertilization was used, said Armando Otero, interim secretary of the island’s Department of Natural Resources.
The Puerto Rican crested toad was thought extinct until the 1960s and was then rediscovered in the early 1980s. Most of the population lives in the southern half of the U.S. territory, with no northern toads spotted since 1992. But concerns are growing about their ability to survive climate change. In the southwest coastal town of Guánica, where the population remains most stable, rising sea levels are threatening their habitat, Barber said.
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