Word: sperms
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Along with chimpanzees and orangutans, gorillas are man's closest kin. They are also remarkably susceptible to human ailments, including mumps, measles, even ordinary colds; and although Omega has never seemed seriously ill, his sperm count is now nil. No one is sure why. It could be his weight (obesity can interfere with gorilla lovemaking); it could also be years of sexual inactivity. Whatever the reason, says Primate Curator Benjamin Beck, Omega's condition is all too common among gorillas in captivity, and that has scientists worried...
Perhaps the ultimate protection against species extinction is what the San Diego scientists call their Frozen Zoo. More than just a sperm bank, it is a repository of fibroblast cells taken from the connective tissue of hundreds of exotic wild animals, ranging from Sumatran tigers to Uganda's pygmy chimps. These cells, which are easier to store and grow than most, are kept in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196° C ( - 320° F) against the day when technology will be ready to reawaken them. Says San Diego's Benirschke: "We could probably get along...
...Washington, D.C., Children's Hospital, gathered around the lady. Ling-Ling was anesthetized, then inseminated with approximately 3.2 cc of semen that had been collected from Hsing-Hsing last year and frozen. (Fresh semen had been collected from Hsing-Hsing shortly before the insemination, but the sperm count was considered too low for conception.) To improve the odds that the artificial union would work, the team inseminated Ling-Ling again 24 hours later...
...employ them. This is a special concern for those who have never been pregnant. The warning signals include abdominal pain, fever, severe menstrual cramps, abnormal bleeding and vaginal discharges. Left unchecked, such infections can scar and block the fallopian tubes, where the union of egg and sperm takes place, and sometimes lead to a hysterectomy. The I.U.D., when it fails, has also been suspected of causing ectopic pregnancies, in which the fetus grows outside the uterus. But recent studies indicate that the devices actually seem to reduce that danger in users compared with women who employ no contraception...
Three cheers for Robert Graham and his Nobel sperm bank [March 10]! Whatever its initial difficulties, Graham's concept is one we dare no longer neglect...