Cryopreserved sperm could save giant “snot otter” salamanders from extinction

The 2.5 - substructure - foresightful Cryptobranchus alleganiensis ( a.k.a . “ the snot otter ” a.k.a . “ the devil dog ” a.k.a . North America ’s largest salamander ) once inhabit the waterway all over the northeast United States . Now , its universe has pass up such that scientists are cryopreserving its spiral - mold sperm .

The mud puppy , which has vary small since the days of the dinosaur , can now be found in remote pouch of Appalachia and Pennsylvania . Researchers are n’t sure why the Cryptobranchus alleganiensis ’s population has dwindle away , but harmonize to the Nashville Zoo ’s reptile conservator Dale McGinnity , pesticide overspill and other pollutant are potential culprits .

The hellbender lives longer than 30 year , and those impart in the wild incline to be older specimens . As a final result , McGinnity and research worker from the Antwerp Zoo and Michigan State University have been collecting , cryopreserving , and successfully resurrecting mud puppy spermatozoan . The amphibian ’s repose - back disposal ready it a good prospect for sperm banking :

This docile nature certainly help scientists pile up salamander spermatozoon , which is “ milked ” out of a hellbender by rubbing it between the front legs and arse , said Nashville Zoo ’s McGinnity .

[ Michigan State reproductive pathologist Dalen ] Agnew also found that the hellbender sperm cell - like those of other amphibian species - boasts a palm of tissue encircling the keister . Magnified 40 time , it “ almost looks like a corkscrew spinning , ” Agnew say .

Here ’s the Hellbender in motion . Big , long - last , and easy - going . If this species give way extinct , we will have lost the Fonz of the herpetological world .

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