“After it was over, I was calm, but it’s a manual task, any error, any slipping, if it falls, will result in irreparable damage.”
The Associated Press was granted exclusive access to the laboratory to film the procedure being carried out on Sunday.
Eggs that were removed last week in Kenya from the last two female northern white rhinos, Najin and Fatu, were fertilized in the lab with frozen sperm from two now-dead males. It will be about 10 days before it is known whether the eggs have become embryos, the Italian assisted-breeding company said Monday.
Wildlife experts and veterinarians are hoping that the species can reproduce via a surrogate mother rhino, since neither Najin nor Fatu can carry a pregnancy.
On Tuesday, Colleoni predicted that “there will be more tension, more emotion,” when she peers through a microscope to see if the fertilized eggs start dividing, in two, then four, then more cells.
https://apnews.com/556d2c6870c249a68b0a7e484d18367c