It is a big scientific leap – or at least a jump.
The researchers in Australia said on Thursday that they successfully produced the first kangaroo embryos by in vitro fertilization for the first time, in a breakthrough that can help to save endangered species from extinction.
Australia is not too little Kangaroos -the hopping creatures are often eaten there -but they come from the bag up -up group of mammals that can mainly be found in the country and have lost many species by extinction.
The use of IVF by the researchers for eggs and sperm of Kangaroos can help to support the preservation of these bags, said the senior researcher and lecturer at the University of Queensland Andres Gambini.
“Our team is based on years of experience with reproductive technologies for household animals such as cattle and horses,” Gambini told NBC News by e -Mail. “By adapting these techniques to the unique biology of kangaroos, we were able to create an embryo in the laboratory for the first time.”
Research will help scientists to learn more about how to grow affected animals because the class reproduces differently to other mammals.
“Kangaroos have a very short pregnancy, and the embryo can enter into suspended animations for several months,” said Gambini. “Our success with IVF helps us to better understand these early stages of development.”
Australia is one of the most organic countries in the world, but also has the highest rate of mammals. The invasive species council of Australia says that at least 33 types of mammals have died out with many of these bags since the European settlement.
The Australian government in 2022 caused a historically high outdoor rate to announce a ten -year “Zero Extinction” plan to protect the endangered persons and to reserve at least 30% of the country’s land mass to preserve the country.
“If we continue to do what we do, more plants and animals will be extinct,” said the then Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek in the report. “Even Koalas are now at risk on the east coast of Australia.”
Now more than 2,200 species in the country are classified as extinction.
“The laws that are supposed to protect the nature of Australia fail,” says the report, adding that the country’s most important nature conservation policy then “hardly monitors, rarely enforced and full of loopholes that enable companies to destroy nature” .
Although kangaroos are not endangered, the researchers of the University of Queensland hope that the recent breakthrough can contribute to preserving other endangered bags that are located on the continent, including Koalas, Tasmanian devils and northern hairy wombats.
“This work gives us a new tool to get genetic material in endangered species,” said Gambini. “By creating and freezing embryos, we can protect the unique genetics of these animals.”
It is not the first time that IVF is used as a tool to preserve endangered species.
Last year, the scientists in Italy reached the first IVF Rhino pregnancy in the world and offered hope to save Kenya northern white rhino from which there are only two animals left on the planet. They did this by transferring a laboratory to a replacement embryo into a replacement mother.
Nevertheless, the latest IVF breakthrough is only one step on a long way to a more comprehensive solution, said Gambini.
“There are many strangers because we are only at the beginning and there is still a lot to discover,” he said, adding that in combination with other strategies, “it can make a real difference for the endangered species.”
This article was originally published on nbcnews.com