A sperm bank for animals

A rat which delivered oocytes, or eggs, fertilised with freeze-dried sperm stored for five years in ampules (at right), at Kyoto University's Institute of Laboratory Animals Graduate School of Medicine in western Japan. - AFP / Kyoto University

Scientists in Japan have launched a sperm bank for endangered animals that uses freeze-drying technology.
 

JAPANESE scientists have launched a sperm bank for endangered animals that uses freeze-drying technology that they hope could one day help humans recreate animal populations on other planets, the chief researcher said last Wednesday.