Aditi Jadhav

Why are we making dolphin-cow hybrids?

Why are we making dolphin-cow hybrids let that idea sit with you for a second. To save other animals from extinction, researchers are putting the sperm of a dolphin together with the egg of a cow. At least part of the goal is figuring out how to preserve the endangered animals' sperm so they stay viable as long as possible, since those sperm samples are a pretty finite resource. And if you think the sperm of endangered animals are hard to comeendangered animals are hard to come by, egg cells are even rarer, at least when it comes to mammals. Since most mammals don't lay eggs, there isn't any non-invasive way to harvest their egg cells. So we have a relatively small number of them to study. And that's why researchers are testing sperm that's closely related to their target species, and combining them with egg cells that are as easy to get as possible. That means the stakes are lower and they can run a lot more tests without worrying about wasting the eggs of endangered animals in the process. It's like your wedding rehearsal before the big event, when the endangered sperm and egg cells will be used. That way, scientists can discover what they are capable of when they approach species-saving interventions like in vitro fertilization, or IVF.