An Animal Sperm and Embryo Bank?

Tennessee fainting goat Photo: Ucumari, Flickr Creative Commons

A few years back, Audubon wrote about science journalist William Burrows’ notion that saving our planet necessitates colonizing the moon and stocking a repository there with, among other things, a comprehensive seed bank and the frozen DNA of every species on earth. Sounds like science fiction, no?

Believe it or not, one Rhode Island organization has moved in that direction, as the only cryopreservation facility in the U.S. to freeze the semen and embryos of rare livestock.

Last week, in The New York Times, Barry Estabrook (who’s written for Audubon in the past) penned a great write up about the SVF Foundation, relating the tale of Chip, a Tennessee Myotonic (fainting) goat that came from a frozen embryo thawed and transplanted into a Nubian doe. That was back in 2004 and today, Chip’s a normal species individual—as normal as can be for an animal that goes rigid and passes out when frightened.

SVF, which touts itself as a “bridge to the future for heritage breeds,” stores 45,000 samples from more than 20 types of rare cattle, sheep and goats, including the bearded Arapawa goat, the rare Jacob Sheep known for its spotted, colorful wool, and the Dutch Belted cattle, considered in critical peril by SVF.

The concept of cryopreservation hasn’t yet won me over, but the scientists at SVF apparently aren’t the only ones who think it’s a good idea. The San Diego Zoo keeps on ice in its Frozen Zoo DNA, viable cell cultures, semen, embryos, and much more for 800 or so species. And the Royal Botanic Garden in the UK has collected seeds from 10% of the world’s wild plant species (with a goal of capturing 25% by 2020) as part of its Millennium Seed Bank.

Likely many other projects of this sort exist. And for good reason, with the number of species going extinct or becoming endangered every day. Still, I have a hard time getting past what Estabrook termed SVF’s frozen ark. What do you think?

In case you're curious, check out this video of the Tennessee fainting goats fainting.