The world's first artificially conceived dolphins have been born in tiny Hong Kong, marking a major step in efforts to reduce inbreeding in captivity and preserve endangered dolphin species.
The two calves, which have yet to be named, were born nine days apart in May, scientists in Hong Kong said.
Mothers Ada and Gina, both bottlenose dolphins, made history last June when they became the world's first dolphins to be successfully inseminated artificially.
Using ultrasound, scientists from Hong Kong's Polytechnic University, the territory's Ocean Park aquarium and Seaworld in the United States were able to accurately predict ovulation in dolphins for the first time.
Dolphins have very irregular ovulation cycles, making artificial insemination exceptionally difficult, and past attempts in the United States have failed.
The calves, one female and one male, have been keeping close by their mothers, said Fiona Brook, head of the 12-year-old project and an associate professor at the Polytechnic University.
``They are big, fat, healthy calves,'' Brook told Reuters.
NEW HOPE
While dolphins in general do not have problems reproducing, inbreeding can quickly become a problem with dolphins in captivity, which produces genetically weaker offspring.
Artificial insemination broadens the genetic pool and reduces the need to bring in dolphins from the wild.
Ada, 17, and Gina, 20, from Indonesian waters, were impregnated just over a year ago with sperm from 17-year-old Molly, also a resident at Ocean Park.
The technology also could be used to help endangered dolphin species.
Scientists and environmentalists in Hong Kong are increasingly concerned about pink dolphins, also known as Chinese White Dolphins, which are facing extinction because of pollution and overfishing.
Marine biologists in Hong Kong believe there are only about 150 pink dolphins left in China's nearby Pearl River estuary, while 1,000 may still survive in southern Chinese waters including areas off Macau and Hong Kong.
Scientists in Hong Kong now want to experiment with artificial insemination using sperm that had been frozen, which could further enlarge the genetic pool.
"If we can do it using frozen sperm, what that will allow is we can extend the genetic pool worldwide. We can bring frozen sperm from anywhere in the world and inseminate females here or we can send semen here to anywhere else in the world,'' Brook said.
