University offers lifeline to birds facing extinction
It is hoped the research by academics at Sheffield University could make captive breeding programmes more effective.
Experts from the university’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences believe their new method of assessing egg fertility, ensuring pairs are sexually compatible and the males are producing enough sperm, could save bird species on the brink of extinction.
Academics found wild birds suffered exceptionally high rates of embryo death because of inbreeding, while among the captive birds little, if any, sperm managed to fertilise the eggs.