StemCell Therapy

Omani scientists collect semen of Arabian tahr for future research

(Our Correspondent) / 22 May 2012

MUSCAT - Scientists in Oman have reported a significant breakthrough in research in the offsite conservation of rare wild animals.

Biotechnologists in the Department of Biology at the College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, said they had successfully collected semen of the Arabian tahr or ibex (locally called Waal Al Arabi or Arabitragus jayakari), an endangered species indigenous to Oman and the UAE, and successfully frozen it for later use in reproductive biology.

Dr Senan Baqir, who is leading the research, underlined that this was the first ever project to investigate the fertility of the male ibex. He added that the high viability of the collected and frozen semen could be used in reproductive biotechnologies such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer.

This, in turn, could lead to a rapid increase in the numbers of the Arabian Waal and to eventually remove it from the red list of endangered animals prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), he added.

Baqir said that the project could be expanded to other endangered wild animal species of Oman such as the Nimir Al Arabi, Caracal, sand fox and the Arabian wolf, also expressing hope that the frozen samples could be the beginning of the establishment of a gamete bank or cell bank in future.

The proposed cell bank, if coupled with other innovative technological approaches such as assisted reproductive biotechnologies, interspecies transplantation, reproductive cloning, semen sexing, stem cell lines, ovum pick-up (OPU) and in vitro fertilisation, would be appropriate tools to combat the continued population decline of endangered species in Oman, he added.

Dr Khalid Al Rasbi, from the Veterinary Services Division of the Royal Court Affairs, noted that the number of endangered animals in Oman was on a declining path despite the huge effort and investment made by the government.

He attributed this to conditions that go beyond government control such as cyclones, pollution, extreme hot weather, drought, smuggling and illegal trade, growth of wild life tourism, rapid urbanisation and construction and pollution and diseases.

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Omani scientists collect semen of Arabian tahr for future research

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