{"id":93733,"date":"2025-10-22T06:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T06:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/93733\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T06:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T06:42:07","slug":"artificial-insemination-raises-hopes-for-worlds-rarest-big-cat-as-numbers-dwindle-in-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/93733\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial insemination raises hopes for world\u2019s rarest big cat as numbers dwindle in the wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minutes later, Khala slept eyes wide open as seven vets set about their work around the leopard, resplendent in black-and-gold fur.<\/p>\n

On the morning of the operation Khala had mated once again with Baruto, a 14-year-old male.<\/p>\n

With their couplings so far fruitless, the veterinarians decided to give nature a little nudge.<\/p>\n

Baruto, 15kg heavier than Khala, was the first on the operating table, with an intravenous drip continuously pumping a cocktail of anaesthetics into his bloodstream to keep him sedated.<\/p>\n

\"VeterinariansVeterinarians prepare Barouto, a 14-year-old Amur leopard, for a semen sample as part of an artificial insemination procedure, at the Mulhouse Zoological and Botanical Park, on October 9. Photo \/ Romeo Boetzle, AFP<\/p>\n

\u201850-50 chance\u2019<\/p>\n

As Baruto\u2019s long dappled tail dangled in the air, Professor Thomas Hildebrandt, on loan from Berlin\u2019s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, which specialises in the reproduction of endangered species, set about his work.<\/p>\n

With a small sample of the leopard\u2019s semen extracted, it was Khala\u2019s turn to be operated on.<\/p>\n

First the vets carried out an ultrasound to check the cat\u2019s uterus.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood news: she has ovulated. Bad news: there are cysts,\u201d Hildebrandt said.<\/p>\n

As a result, even if Baruto\u2019s sperm fertilises Khala\u2019s egg, there is a risk it may not be able to attach itself to the uterus walls.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless the vet pressed on. With a probe inserted and a gentle squeeze of the trigger the procedure was complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s about a 50-50 chance that she will be pregnant now,\u201d said Susanne Holtze, Hildebrant\u2019s colleague from the Leibniz Institute.<\/p>\n

After a weigh-in and one last jab, Khala was awake and back in her enclosure, and hopefully three months out from giving birth to a rare feline cub.<\/p>\n

\"Barouto,Barouto, a 14-year-old Amur leopard. Only a few dozen remain in the wild along the river that marks the Sino-Russian border. Photo \/ Romeo Boetzle, AFP<\/p>\n

Inbreeding risks <\/p>\n

Classed as \u201ccritically endangered\u201d by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Amur leopard is at risk of habitat loss and the disappearance of some of its prey.<\/p>\n

As the population dwindles, the surviving felines have fewer potential mates, heightening the risks of inbreeding.<\/p>\n

Khala and Baruto were not chosen at random \u2013 their genetic make-up was considered varied enough to bolster the species\u2019 genetic diversity.<\/p>\n

Some of Baruto\u2019s sample was also kept back by the scientists \u201cso that if anything ever happens to him we still have his genetic pool, potentially for future inseminations\u201d, explained Quintard.<\/p>\n

The about 250 Amur leopards kept in captivity are crucial to the species as they possess a \u201cfar more widespread genetic make-up than those still present in the wild\u201d, the veterinarian said.<\/p>\n

On the Chinese side of the border, the national forestry board believes there are reasons to be cheerful. <\/p>\n

Thanks to a conservation drive launched in 2017, Beijing says that the number of leopards in the wild has nearly doubled, from 42 before it began to 80 in 2025.<\/p>\n

Yet the elegant felines have become an indirect victim of the war in Ukraine, with a Russian reintroduction programme on pause until further notice.<\/p>\n

-Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minutes later, Khala slept eyes wide open as seven vets set about their work around the leopard, resplendent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[69771,3648,9556,806,8834,8688,69770,25279,2082,1221,3012,78,57481,7997,19476,18927,111,139,3591,69,11596,69769,147,6639,223,15391,406,42541,17450],"class_list":["post-93733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-amur","tag-animal","tag-artificial","tag-as","tag-big","tag-cat","tag-dwindle","tag-earths","tag-for","tag-france","tag-hopes","tag-in","tag-insemination","tag-leopard","tag-lifted","tag-lovers","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-numbers","tag-nz","tag-raises","tag-rarest","tag-science","tag-survival","tag-the","tag-wild","tag-wildlife","tag-worldfirst","tag-worlds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}