Scientists have proposed adding coffee to the reproductive system of lizards

The group took sperm from a series of yellow spotted monitors, a giant lizard, or species of goanna, that

In recent years, populations of cane toads in their habitat have been severely affected.The lizard population is in urgent need of help, as 97% of the population has already been destroyed, and this situation is having an impact on the situation.Huge impact on the entire ecosystem.

The researchers decided to find out which methodFreezing endangered semen samples works best. Scientists also wanted to develop a better protocol for resuming the movement of frozen sperm after thawing. They found that one common cryoprotectant worked quite well. Scientists have managed to prevent semen from breaking with ice crystals during the freezing process. But, as in the case of a small number of previous attempts to freeze reptile sperm, the researchers were not able to obtain a large number of motile, floating sperm after the thaw.

The research team decided to try a technique that had not been used before with lizard samples.This method has previously increased the movement of mammalian and bird sperm, but has never been applied to reptile sperm after freezing.Scientists added caffeine to stimulate sperm when they thawed them.

The researchers immediately saw a huge increase in the number of moving sperm after freezing and thawing.

It turns out that frozen lizard sperm need their morning coffee to start, like us!

Lachlan Campbell, first author of the study

After a series of improvement experimentsAccording to the protocol, the team found that they were able to extract almost half of the frozen sperm, which ensured the largest recovery of motile sperm among all reptile species.

This method will help preserve reptiles around the world, which is especially important for Australian lizards.It provides new opportunities for the creation of the Kimberly Ark Gene Bank, an ambitious conservation project created by Clawlow and his colleague Dr. Sean Doody at the University of South Florida. Projectaims to restore genetic diversity after the inexorably inevitable devastation of wildlife caused by an increase in cane toad populations in western Northern Australia.

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