Background

"Saving the DNA and the viable cells of the world's endangered animals"

Over the next thirty years it is predicted that more than 1,000 species of mammals - a quarter of the world's total - and a similar number of birds,  amphibians and fish will go extinct. Thousands of invertebrate species are disappearing following the destruction of their habitats. A key problem is that we are losing species that have not yet even been named.

The Frozen Ark Project is a strategy to conserve the genetic resources of the world's endangered animal species. It is similar to the 'Millennium Seed Bank Project' created by Kew Gardens to conserve the seeds of the world’s plants. The Frozen Ark Project office is located within the University of Nottingham. The consortium is a network of research and conservation bodies, including zoos, aquaria, natural history museums and research laboratories, around the world.

The stored material is a treasure-trove of knowledge about many aspects of the biology, behaviour, ecology and evolution of the animals concerned. Frozen viable cells may enable conservation biologists to reverse the dangerous loss of genetic variation that can cause infertility and early death in endangered species. Many institutions around the world already store animal tissues  and viable cells,  but not always in a manner that allows the preservation of undamaged molecules, and seldom in coordination with other similar institutions. Few are aimed exclusively at endangered species and none is saving appreciable numbers of invertebrates.

Contact: Frozen.Ark@nottingham.ac.uk