Artificial Insemination"The sobering fact that available zoo statistics indicate that one elephant keeper has died for every calf elephant sired in a European zoo inspired Dr. Russell Jones, a research fellow at London Zoo, to develop a method of inseminating female elephants without the need to directly involve a male or bull elephant, which is always a difficult beast to handle and at mating times is actually murderous.
"Dr. Jones recently completed an African safari during which he devised a technique for obtaining elephant semen from bulls in the wild for eventual artificial insemination in females. His key equipment consisted of a large custom-built aluminum probe and a 12-volt car battery.
"After drugging the bull elephant by shooting it with a special dart rifle, Dr. Jones and his staff placed special hats on the immobilized elephants to shield their eyes from the sun during the operation, and then inserted the aluminum probe into the animal's rectum, attached the car battery to the probe, and sent a hefty electrical shock into its reproductive tract. About a liter of sperm was produced in this manner."
[Trivia: Japan's Tokyo Zoo closes for two months each year to give the animals a break from visitors.]
Jones, Russell (?- ) British zoologist
[Sources: Ben Wicks' Book of Losers]More Russell Jones anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Animals Zoos Elephants Sex Genitalia Sperm Operations Electricity Shocks Bottoms Last Resorts Artificial Insemination
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