一只瀕臨滅絕的波多黎各冠蟾蜍，通過試管受精誕生了

在沃斯堡動物園，一只瀕臨滅絕的波多黎各冠蟾蜍通過試管受精誕生了

This baby is a scientific miracle — warts and all.

這個嬰兒是科學上的奇跡——毫無瑕疵。

A highly endangered Puerto Rican Crested toad was hatched through in-vitro fertilization for the first time in history.

一種高度瀕危的波多黎各冠蟾蜍在歷史上首次通過體外受精孵化出來。

The one-of-a-kind amphibian is named Olaf, after the snowman in the “Frozen” films — a nod to the frozen sperm that was used to create him, the AP reports.

據(jù)美聯(lián)社報道，這種獨一無二的兩棲動物以《冰雪奇緣》系列電影中的雪人奧拉夫命名，這是對用來創(chuàng)造雪人的冷凍精子的致敬。

Scientists used this method to help save the species from extinction. Olaf was the first of 300 hatchlings to be born at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. A previous attempt at toad IVF had failed.

科學家們用這種方法幫助這個物種免于滅絕。奧拉夫是德克薩斯州沃斯堡動物園300只幼崽中的第一只出生的。蟾蜍體外受精的前一次嘗試失敗了。

“We don’t typically name our toads, but that one deserved special recognition,” Diane Barber, ectotherms curator at the zoo, told the wire service. “We were super, super excited. … You kind of hold your breath for 30 days to see if they’re going to metamorphose.”

“我們一般不會給我們的蟾蜍起名字，但這只蟾蜍應該得到特別的認可，”動物園外恒溫動物管理員黛安·巴伯(Diane Barber)告訴通訊社。“我們非常非常興奮。你得屏住呼吸30天，看看它們是否會變形。”

Scientists traveled to Guayanilla last year to collect sperm from six toads, who excrete semen as they urinate.

科學家們?nèi)ツ昵巴蟻喣崂瓖u，從六只蟾蜍身上采集精子，它們在排尿時排出精液。

The effort sometimes required the scientists to get a little hands on.

這種努力有時需要科學家們動手去做。

“It’s kind of weird, but if you hold them in your hand and look at them and bark at them like a dog, they will pee,” explained Barber.

“這有點奇怪，但如果你把它們拿在手里，看著它們，像狗一樣對著它們叫，它們就會撒尿，”巴伯解釋說。

Of the more than 300 toads born via IVF, 100 were sent to other zoos with captive breeding programs. The remaining 200 will be sent to Puerto Rico in December via FedEx to be released into the wild.

在300多只通過試管受精出生的蟾蜍中，有100只被送到了其他有人工繁殖計劃的動物園。剩下的200只將在12月通過聯(lián)邦快遞送到波多黎各，然后放生。