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The first lion cubs born from artificial insemination are living a “healthy and normal” life, five weeks after being born.
The fact that the two cubs, named Victor and Isabel, are doing well shortly after being born, raises the prospect that other endangered animals could be helped, including the rare snow leopard, of which there are only between 4,000 and 6,500 left in the world.
“Assisted reproduction techniques are another tool in our conservation box, of course not a sole solution, but another technology that we can use to protect endangered species,” Imke Lueders, a scientist involved in the study, said in a statement.
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Lueders added that having the cubs born in their natural range country and not an overseas zoo “is an important milestone for South Africa”.
The two cubs, – male and female – were born on Aug. 25 and are acting “healthy and normal,” Andre Ganswindt, the director of the University of Pretoria’s mammal research institute, said. The births were the results of 18 months of intensive trials and after sperm was collected from a healthy lion, Ganswindt added, a lioness was inseminated artificially when her hormones were at optimal levels.
“And luckily it was successful,” Ganswindt told the AFP, adding that “there were several attempts, but surprisingly it didn’t take too much effort”.
The cubs were named after Dr. Isabel Callealta, a Spanish veterinarian and her fiancé, Victor. Dr. Callealta is working on the research that led to the results and personally trained the lions to allow researchers to take blood samples to determine their hormone levels to decide when insemination should occur.
According to African Wildlife Foundation, the lion population has plunged in recent years. They are now “regionally extinct” in 15 African countries and the population has decreased a whopping 43 percent over the past 21 years. It is estimated that approximately 23,000 lions remain on Earth, their populations decimated by “expanding human populations” and hunting.
In 1996, lions were declared “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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Despite the seemingly positive news, what one lion breeder called “very revolutionary,” not all parties are pleased.
“The captive lion breeding industry in South Africa is exploitative and profit-driven,” said Mark Jones of the Born Free Foundation in the statement.
Jones added: “It generates its income through interaction activities (lion cub petting and lion walks), canned trophy hunting of lions and the lion skeleton trade, while contributing nothing to lion conservation.”
A group of 18 international and African conservation organisations wrote a letter to the scientists saying they did not support the study, though they acknowledged artificial insemination could help other endangered big cats, such as the cheetah.
Approximately 6,600 adult cheetahs are left in the wild and only 5 percent of cheetahs live to adulthood, African Wildlife Foundation notes.
Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia