Have you ever wondered what happens to an endangered animal after it dies over at the San Diego Zoo? Well, when an endangered animal dies they end up in the 'Frozen Zoo'. Scientists remove sperm, eggs, bits of tissue and store it in liquid nitrogen for later research with the hopes of bringing back rare and extinct organisms in the future. This is the largest gene bank of it's kind, with over 1000 species genes stored inside. An example of one crucial species is the Northern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) - with only 5 left alive in the world - that they plan use artificial insemination with 'frozen' sperm to restore populations. This method has already proven successful with the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).
I found this article to be very interesting because I'm an advocate for conservation and preservation of species for future generations to appreciate. However I'd imagine that there is only so far this kind of research could go because with so little of many species still alive to collect sperm and egg from, eventually the problem of a lack of genetic variation would arise. Interesting none the less!
