The frozen zoo

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2020

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1975, San Diego Zoo began placing tissue samples of rare animals in cryogenic storage for the benefit of future generations. Called the Frozen Zoo, the refrigeration system now contains the cells of more than 1000 species ranging from the white rhinoceros to the black-footed ferret. Scientists are now using the collection to try to save species threatened by extinction. Simon Watts talks to Dr Oliver Ryder, who has worked at the Frozen Zoo from the very beginning.

PHOTO: Northern White Rhino cells in the Frozen Zoo (San Diego Zoo Institute For Conservation Research)

Transcript

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1:10.7	Hello and thank you for downloading the podcast of Witness History from the BBC World Service
1:16.1	with me Simon Watts. Today I'm bringing you the story of how a zoo in the United States
1:22.4	has been deep- samples from the world's rarest
1:26.1	animals. The frozen zoo was set up in San Diego in the
1:35.0	1970s and scientists are now using the collection to try to save species like the Northern White rhinoceroses are really amazing creatures. They're very large, they don't see very well, but they are exquisitely adapted.
1:55.0	They're like ballerinas, they run on their toes, they can be lying down and startled and up on their feet and running at 30 miles an hour in two seconds.
	...

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