When I think about a snow leopard I think: pretty, cute and a big cat. But little did I know
that there are more to snow leopards than that. Trying to pick a topic was hard but I finally found something that I was interested in and wanted to know more about: snow leopards and stem cells. Snow leopards are becoming extinct and now with the new technology, they are finding a way to keep them alive by stem cells. I found this very interesting and thought that other people would too. So first I will tell you some fun facts about snow leopards and then we will get into the stem cells.
Snow leopards are magnificent and beautiful creatures. They have long, thick coats that are grayish in color with white stomachs. They can weigh from about 55 to 59 pounds, so they are quit heavy. Snow leopards can be as long as 51 inches. Snow leopards live in the mountains of Russia, China, India, Nepal, Mongolia and Pakistan. The mountains are a safe place to mate and have offspring. Snow leopards have about 2 to 3 offspring in the spring.
Snow leopards are carnivores so they prefer sheep, deer, ibex, and any other mammal they can get. Since snow leopards are such strong hunters, they have to have a good hunting strategy. And that strategy is stalking or ambushing their pray. Snow leopards also have huge paws so they can walk through the snow easier and it allows them to jump long distances to catch their pray.
Snow leopards have resources that people want and need. People hunt snow leopards for their fur and by this happening the number of snow leopards on Earth is becoming very small. Thanks to stem cells, snow leopards have a chance of not
becoming endangered. By generating stem cells, scientists are creating reproductive cells to help save them from extinction. So having the scientists making these cells they are placing the cells in a female snow leopards that
are in captivity. They will make more offspring that will be released into the wild and from there; scientists are hoping that snow leopards will become more populated.
Snow leopards are very interesting animals. They are hard to locate because there is so few of them left. It is sad to
think that a pretty animal might die out so hopefully the stem cells help make them more populated and we will have more snow leopards in the mountains!
Do you think that the stem cells will help?
How did scientists come up with this method?
Do you think that this is a good idea?
I think this post is very interesting because I love cats, both big and small. I think it is really sad that people are using snow leopards for their fur, but I am also very glad that scientists got into the subject of stem cell research for these animals. It says that the research is looking very promising. I do think that stem cells will help because then more snow leopards will be produced and the more that are produced, the more that will mate together, which means the population of snow leopards will raise. Scientists probably came up with this method since humans are doing it, and they thought that it would work on animals, they tested in on mice first, as the scientist who commented had said, and since they were successful with that they also tested it on snow leopards, where it was also successful. I do think this is a good idea because snow leopards are beautiful creatures and I don’t think they should go extinct because I in general just really like cats.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123094758.htm
They scientists from the Monash University used the ear tissue of an adult snow leopard to get iPS cells (stem cells) to generate. It’s the first time the iPs cells have been generated from the cat family and mouse iPS cells have given birth to entire offspring bring the population up a little bit helping from not being extinct. They found this all out from collecting research from some adult snow leopards in zoos like the Mogo Zoo in NSW. They use this method to help other members in the cat family whose numbers are falling endangered of extinction.
http://www.snowleopardnetwork.org/blog/?p=494
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123094758.htm
Snow Leopards are cool animals, and it really is a shame that they are endangered along with many other big cats, such as tigers.
http://www.snowleopard.org/catfactsclassroom/catfacts/population
This article says that there are only 3,500 to 7,000 wild snow leopards roaming around on the entire planet, with only another 600-700 left in captivity. They really are majestic creatures, so it would be a sad sight to see them extinct. That said, it does seem like there are more efforts being put forth to save them, along with many other endangered or even near-extinct species. However, it will be very hard to crack down on all of the poachers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKm7Dmpt6Us&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Hi Riley,
I am not sure that I answered your email from the 17th April and when I looked at your blog today I thought to clarify a couple of your queries. Sorry it has taken so long but I was overseas for a month.
The technique we have modified for snow leopard stem cells was initially developed in mice. In mice these cells can be 1) matured into spermatozoa-like (male reproductive) cells and also 2) the cells can form complete mouse pups by a process called embryo complementation. We are more interested in the second approach as it might be easier in the short term- we can then produce snow leopard embryos and use (lots of) non endangered animals to carry the pregnancy, hopefully giving us a large number of snow leopard cubs.
What was the most difficult thing that you had to go through in this process? Finding to solution must have made you very happy and feel accomplished.
The initial difficulty was that the method of making the stem cells that worked in mice didn’t work the same in Snow Leopards so we had to alter it- It was very satisfying that we were successful. However I should point out that although this is very exciting, it is only the beginning and we have lots more research to do before we can actually save SLs.
What else in your discovery made you excited?
The really exciting thing was that we may be able to use this approach to save other endangered animals- especially the Big Cats!
Are you currently working on any other research?
Yes, the main focus of my research is to produce stem cells from adult people and domestic animals. The endangered animal work is a small spin-off that we thought of looking at and we are also looking at Tigers and other endangered cats.
These stem cells can be used to help treat diseases in people and pet animals such as horses and dogs which get injuries. This research can also help develop livestock (sheep, cattle, pigs etc) that are resistant to diseases or produce more milk or meat.
What is the best/worst part of you job? (if there is one!)
The best part of my work is that I enjoy coming in to work everyday (and get paid to do it) to find out that an idea of ours has worked. Also the hope that the work we do will make a difference to people with diseases or that are struggling to survive (endangered).
The frustrating (not worst) part of that this research takes so much time and money, so I spend most of my time trying to attract funds to continue the work.
I would like you to check out our class’s blog site and check out the research that we have done throught out the course of the last 9 weeks.
I really enjoyed looking at the class blog site. Please commend your teacher or whoever is responsible for setting it up. Also what age group is your class? as my daughter who is 12 yrs old might like to start something similar for her class.
Best Wishes,
Paul
Professor Paul J. Verma PhD
Principal Scientist- Reproductive Biology
South Australian Research Institute (SARDI)
Adjunct Professor & Head
Cell Reprogramming & Stem Cells
Monash Institute of Medical Research
27-31 Wright Street
Clayton, VIC 3168 AUSTRALIA
Voice: + 61 3 9902 4771
Fax: + 61 3 9594 7416
Cell: +61 413 387 563
Email: Paul.Verma@sa.gov.au
Email: Paul.Verma@monash.edu
http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au
http://www.monashinstitute.org
I think this is a very good topic, it is very easy to read and something that everyone can enjoy. I really think the stem cells will work, and if they dont there isnt really anything to lose. But i think its good that scientist are trying to save the snow leopards. Its so sad to see snow leopards get killed just for the fur and many of their organs and bones are very valuable in foreign countries in Asia. Here is a website that really goes in depth about why snow leopards are endangered and why they are killed.
http://www.snowleopardconservancy.org/kids/text/endangered.htm