Mia Williams
A jaguar ate her own cub - the first to be born by artificial insemination.
A team of vets at the environmental organization Mata Ciliar in Brazil, hailed the birth of this jaguar as a scientific breakthrough, as ongoing work has been difficult for the conservation of the species.
The felines are currently deemed an endangered species, with rapidly diminishing numbers surviving in the wild.
But the death of the breakthrough jaguar in this way was not unexpected by researchers, who have said that this kind of practice is not unusual ‘both in captivity and in nature, especially in the case of carnivores’.
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The cub was born back in February 2019, just 104 days after her mother, a five-year-old named Bianca, was artificially inseminated.
Samuel Nunes, a spokesperson for Mata Ciliar, told FocusOn News: “Unfortunately after two days, the cub died.
“We don’t know why and cannot say if it was killed by the mother because it was not seen on the monitors on the second day.
“Bianca was a first-time mother and this may have influenced the outcome of the event.
“The veterinary team could not conduct a necropsy because the baby had already been eaten.”
A video which captured the groundbreaking birth, shows some of the stages that took place beforehand.
This includes a vet sedating a healthy male, extracting fresh semen, analyzing the sperm in the lab, and then inserting the reproductive cells into the female to form a cub.
The Mata Ciliar project, which began in 2017, was developed in partnership with world-renowned scientists at the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife.
Bianca was one of five female jaguars that were chosen to participate in the experiment.
This was based on her health, age, and suitability for carrying cubs.
Nunes added: “The project required intensive preparation even before artificial insemination could be started.
“The five females selected to participate in the project had to undergo a conditioning process that aimed to reduce their levels of stress.
“This limited the need to anesthetize them particularly during procedures such as ultrasound, administering hormones and medications.”
Dr. Bill Swanson, a researcher at CREW, emphasized the importance of the project, speaking to the NY Post he said: “The jaguar is the last of the seven species of large-sized felines to undergo artificial insemination.
“The birth of this cub is an important historical landmark. It invigorates the possibility of the use of assisted reproduction as a management tool that increases the genetic variability of populations and the conservation of these endangered cats.”