Page 37 - 0518

Groton Daily Independent
Friday, May 17, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 3088 ~ 37 of 55
that would be put in the six female rhinos.
“The confirmation of this pregnancy through artificial insemination represents an historic event for our
organization but also a critical step in our effort to save the northern white rhino,” said Barbara Durrant, director of reproductive Sciences at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.
But more challenges lie ahead, with artificial insemination of rhinos in zoos rare so far and resulting in only a few births.
Victoria is a healthy 3,747-pound (1,700-kilogram) rhino estimated to be 7 years old.
She and the other five female rhinos that range in age from 4 to 7 years old were all born in the wild and relocated to San Diego’s Safari Park in 2015. Scientists will be perfecting artificial insemination techniques and embryo transfer techniques on the females, which undergo weekly ultrasounds. Durrant recently spot- ted the beginning of tiny limbs of Victoria’s baby during her recent ultrasound. She is two months pregnant.
“We will know that they have proven themselves to be capable of carrying a fetus to term before we would risk putting a precious northern white rhino embryo into one of these southern white rhinos as a surrogate,” Durrant said.
The ultimate goal — which could take decades — is to create a herd of five to 15 northern white rhinos that would be returned to their natural habitat in Africa.
Some groups have said in vitro fertilization is being developed too late to save the northern white rhino, whose natural habitat in Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Congo and Central African Republic has been ravaged by conflicts in the region. They say the efforts should focus on other critically endangered species with a better chance at survival.
The southern white rhino and another species, the black rhino, are under heavy pressure from poachers who kill them for their horns to supply illegal markets in parts of Asia.
There are about 20,000 southern white rhinos in Africa.
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This version corrects that there are no frozen northern white rhino eggs, not a limited amount of eggs,
and corrects weight of Victoria to 3,747 pounds not 747 pounds.
Laurel, Yanny or ... covfefe? White House joins in on debate
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is joining in on the viral debate over whether people hear the names “Laurel” or “Yanny” in a much-shared audio clip.
The White House on Thursday released a video featuring various members of the staff weighing in.
Senior adviser Ivanka Trump says, “So clearly Laurel.” Strategic-communications director Mercedes Schlapp says, “Yanny’s the winner, Laurel’s the loser.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway pokes fun at her endless willingness to spin and bend the truth for the president, saying, “It’s Laurel. But I could deflect and divert to Yanny if you need me to.”
Vice President Mike Pence wants to know: “Who’s Yanny?”
The video ends with President Donald Trump deadpanning, “I hear covfefe” — a reference to a botched tweet he wrote last year that was never explained.
Beset by leaks, White House talks firings, not apologies By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JILL COLVIN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A West Wing aide’s morbid remark about gravely ill Sen. John McCain has not yielded widespread White House soul searching. Instead it has produced a push to fire those responsible for leaking that story and others that have bedeviled President Donald Trump’s administration.
Nearly a week after Kelly Sadler dismissed McCain’s opinion on Trump’s CIA nominee during a closed-door meeting by saying “he’s dying anyway,” a torrent of criticism has rained down upon the White House. The administration has repeatedly declined to publicly apologize, but the fallout has shaken the West Wing, where the focus remains on who leaked to the media.