DENVER — Black-footed ferret recovery efforts aimed at increased genetic diversity and disease resistance took a bold step forward Dec. 10, 2020, with the birth of “Elizabeth Ann,” created from the frozen cells of “Willa,” a black-footed ferret that lived more than 30 years ago.

On Aug. 6, 2020, the world’s first successfully cloned Przewalski’s horse was born in Texas at the veterinary facility of a ViaGen Equine collaborator, Timber Creek Veterinary. The foal, born to a domestic surrogate mother, is a clone of a male Przewalski’s horse whose DNA was cryopreserved 40 years ago at the San Diego Zoo Global (SDZG) Frozen Zoo®. 

Southern white rhino Edward turned 1 year old today (July 28, 2020), and a birthday celebration was held in his honor at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center.