Detroit Zoo Saves Cash by Breeding Own Crickets

Crickets contains many of the important dietary needs for amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. They are an excellent source of protein for them and as much as they probably taste so good---they are expensive! According to the article crickets cost more than all the other food sources at the zoo, including meat, fish and produce, at more than 98,000 per year.

Officials have created a new program that will make it easier and cheaper to feed their thousands of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals and that is by simply breeding crickets. The workers at the Detroit Zoo changed an unused area into breeding room to produce crickets. 

Since this new program has been created, hundred-thousand of crickets have been produced every week. Scott Carter, the Detroit Zoo's chief life science officer, said that this will save about $225,000 in the first three years.

"In my opinion, this is a little surprising that someone did not think of this a lot sooner. Your saving less than half a million dollars by just breeding crickets. I would have came up with solution a long time ago. From what I am aware of, breeding, specifically, selective breeding, has been going since Mendel started breeding pea plants. Or it may have been used before Mendel. But my point is, is that since the officials did not think of this solution a lot sooner, they ended up spending a lot of money that could have went towards something else. It makes me think if there are other places that are doing the same thing and should be taught this technique."

Here is the link for the ARTICLE!

Look here to watch the video too!

The 'Frozen Zoo'

   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!