It took researchers at the Abu Dhabi Camel Research Centre in Suwaihan four years to produce the camel, who was born on Wednesday.”After 1 year and 22 days of pregnancy, one healthy calf was born. It was a male camel and its weight was 38 kilograms,” said Dr Abdul Haq Anouassi, chairman of the breeding section at the centre.

“In-vitro fertilisation is a technique that involves retrieving eggs [oocytes] and sperm from the bodies of the female and male and placing them together in a laboratory dish to facilitate fertilisation.”Fertilised eggs are then allowed to develop in vitro and after several days are transferred into a female’s reproductive tract, where implantation and embryo development can occur.

“Ovaries were obtained from adult females that were slaughtered in Khazna camel abattoir. Oocytes were recovered by aspiration of all follicles more than five millimetres. The selected oocytes were matured. Semen was collected using a bovine artificial vagina on the day of in-vitro fertilisation.”Following in-vitro fertilisation, the zygotes obtained were placed on monolayer cells. After 24 hours of culture, the zygotes were examined under the microscope and the first oocytes [two to eight cells] were observed.

The embryos obtained were kept in co-culture up to nine days, before their transfer to recipients.”Good-quality embryos were deposited in uteri of recipient camels.”

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It took researchers at the Abu Dhabi Camel Research Centre in Suwaihan four years to produce the camel, who was born on Wednesday.”After 1 year and 22 days of pregnancy, one healthy calf was born. It was a male camel and its weight was 38 kilograms,” said Dr Abdul Haq Anouassi, chairman of the breeding section at the centre.

“In-vitro fertilisation is a technique that involves retrieving eggs [oocytes] and sperm from the bodies of the female and male and placing them together in a laboratory dish to facilitate fertilisation.”Fertilised eggs are then allowed to develop in vitro and after several days are transferred into a female’s reproductive tract, where implantation and embryo development can occur.

“Ovaries were obtained from adult females that were slaughtered in Khazna camel abattoir. Oocytes were recovered by aspiration of all follicles more than five millimetres. The selected oocytes were matured. Semen was collected using a bovine artificial vagina on the day of in-vitro fertilisation.”Following in-vitro fertilisation, the zygotes obtained were placed on monolayer cells. After 24 hours of culture, the zygotes were examined under the microscope and the first oocytes [two to eight cells] were observed.

The embryos obtained were kept in co-culture up to nine days, before their transfer to recipients.”Good-quality embryos were deposited in uteri of recipient camels.”

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A never-seen-before wild cat has been spotted in the protected zone of Wadi Wurayah on the eastern Coast of the UAE.Camera traps set up by the ecologists working in the mountainous area have captured an image of a rare breed of wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica) whose presence was, until now, just assumed thanks to some elusive tracks, WAM news agency quoting Gulf News daily reported yesterday.Wadi Wurayah is a 129 sq km area that was declared UAE’s first protected mountainous area in March 2009, the report added.

The discovery of the wild cat demonstrates the high ecological value of the area to the ongoing preservation efforts of the UAE and Middle East’s wildlife.”The discovery underpins the importance of protecting the Wadi Wurayah area. We have not seen a wild cat for many years and it is vital that we do our utmost to protect the area, allowing the wildlife residing there to flourish,” said Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, the director of Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wildlife Fund for Nature.More