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Test-tube apes
Zoo's Sumatran orangutans get assist with reproduction

By BILL HENDRICK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/13/05

Zoo Atlanta officials will know in a week or so whether the zoo's critically endangered
Sumatran orangutans — Biji or Hati, or maybe even both — are with ape.

If so, it'll be a "very big deal," the first time one of the great apes has become pregnant
through in vitro fertilization, said Dr. Hilton Kort, co-founder of Reproductive Biology
Associates in Atlanta, a pioneer and leader in the development and refinement of clinical
procedures that enhance pregnancy outcomes in people.

It'll also be ironic because scientists for hundreds of years

have battled human health problems by using lower animals
as guinea pigs, and the delicate conditions of Hati, 27, and
Biji, 35, have come about through what's been learned from
the study of in vitro reproduction in humans, Kort said.

A 34-year-old male Sumatran orangutan named Allen C.

gave his semen voluntarily, which he learned to do after
months of "behavioral training" at the zoo, said Dr. Maria
Crane, vice president of animal health and senior
veterinarian at Zoo Atlanta.

Eleven eggs from Hati were extracted and fertilized,

T. Levette Bagwell/Staff producing four viable embryos, Crane said. Two were
(ENLARGE) reimplanted into Hati, and the other two into Biji, who, if the
BIJI process works, will become a surrogate mom.

The zoo's female giant panda, Lun Lun, has had sperm from
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Yang Yang deposited by catheter, or artificially inseminated
— so far without positive result. Crane said,"We haven't
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learned enough about giant panda reproductive physiology
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to understand whether IVF procedures would work." But
scientists think in vitro — a different procedure in which
eggs are extracted, then fertilized, then reimplanted — stands a good chance with
orangutans, one of mankind's closest cousins. It's estimated that only 7,300 are alive
worldwide and that the species could be extinct in 10 years.

In vitro fertilization was perfected in 1978 with the birth of the first test-tube baby,
Louise Brown, in England. Since then, it's estimated that several million human couples
have had children thanks to IVF.
"Allen has viable semen, and we also know that Hati is still reproductively active," Crane
said. "This is the same process that has been used in humans."

Hati, however, has never had babies, but Biji has, which means she has "gestational"
experience.

Sumatran orangutans normally have little trouble breeding in captivity, but Crane said
"we've had this pair [Allen C. and Hati] for 16 years" and though they have become close
friends, they haven't become intimate. "These two individuals are genetically most
valuable."

Kort said Hati has been designated by the Orangutan Conservation Organization as one of
the most genetically valuable female Sumatrans in captivity as far as reproduction is
concerned.

"We've done exactly the same procedure as we do in humans," said Kort, adding that
RBA has helped couples create more than 6,000 babies. "Hati has been put on very
sophisticated fertility drugs. One of the concerns we have is multiple pregnancy, just as
we do in humans. We want these pregnancies to be as normal as possible.

"This is absolutely ironic. Usually when technology evolves, it's tried in animals first. In
humans, the success rate at this stage would be approximately 50 percent. We don't have
an idea in the orangutans, but it would be incredible, amazing, if it works."

The orangutans are receiving hormones in hopes of helping the process along, but it
could be several weeks before scientists can tell whether one or both of the orangutans
are pregnant, Kort said.

Hati and Biji, both born at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, have
lived at Zoo Atlanta since August 1988. Allen C., born at the St. Louis Zoo in 1971,
moved to Atlanta in 1989. Adult female orangutans weigh about 120 pounds and males
250. Babies weigh about 4 pounds. About 250 orangutans are living in captivity in North
America.

Dr. Earle Pope, senior scientist at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered
Species in New Orleans, said the Sumatran faces extinction without assisted reproduction
because its natural forest habitats in Sumatra and Borneo have been decimated by
development. Besides in vitro fertilization, scientists also are trying to use other artificial
techniques, including cloning, he said.

"It's the whole focus of our laboratory," he said. "So far the only nonhuman primate great
ape that's been reproduced with assisted reproduction is a gorilla," Pope said. "It's one
possible solution to the puzzle of preventing animals from going extinct."

Great apes include orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and the bonobos.