For the first time, a team of scientists have successfully collected sperm from an Australian monitor lizard in a bid to save the population decline of the goannas.
The move is part of a project to create a gene bank of animals facing population decline in the West Australian Kimberley due to cane toads, Australia's national broadcaster ABC today reported.
Researchers collected the sperm using a technique called electro ejaculation, which until now has only been performed on reptiles in the US.
Simon Clulow from the University of Newcastle's termed the collection as the beginning of the "Kimberley Ark".
"For the first time, anywhere in Australia and only the second in the world, we've managed to obtain sperm samples from a reptile species, which is the beginning of our gene bank known as the Kimberley Ark," ABC reported quoting Clulow.
He said it was an interesting experience as "all lizards and snakes actually have two penises known as hemipenes, so we've got a bit to play with there."
Gene banking is needed to mitigate the impacts of cane toad migration into the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Clulow said.
"Goannas decline by up to 96 per cent and quolls can go locally extinct so the point is preserve that diversity and then actually try to bring that diversity back after declines happen," he said.
The next challenge is to find a way to store the samples indefinitely, so they can be used to "re-create" species if they go extinct, Clulow said.
