Zoos: A Historical
Perspective from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The
National Zoological Park is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
JoGayle Howard, DVM, Ph.D., Theriogenologist, Department of
Reproductive Sciences
Reproductive
Sciences
Education
Texas A & M University, B.S., Veterinary Science, 1979
Texas A & M University, D.V.M., Veterinary Science, 1980
National Zoological Park, Internship, Reproduction, 1983
National Zoological Park, Fellowship, Reproductive Research,
1987
University of Maryland, Ph.D., Reproductive Physiology, 1989
NIH Special Emphasis Research Career Award (SERCA), 1988-1993
Professional History and Interests
JoGayle Howard has more than 25 years’ experience in reproductive research involving rare and often endangered species. Her experience includes international field studies and conservation training programs in Africa, Thailand, and China, as well as collaborating with more than 40 zoological parks in the United States and abroad.
Howard’s studies generally focus on fertility, infertility, and the role of reproductive technologies for promoting reproduction. She has been particularly productive in developing novel reproductive strategies for genetically valuable individuals, especially artificial insemination. Her research interests include the influence of loss of genetic variation on reproduction, the impact of morphologically abnormal spermatozoa (teratospermia) on fertility, sperm-egg interaction and cryosurvival, and the value of in vitro fertilization as an assay for sperm function.
Howard has played a leadership role in developing successful sperm processing and laparoscopic artificial insemination protocols for rare carnivore species, including the cheetah, clouded leopard, tiger, leopard cat, puma, and black-footed ferret. She also successfully used, for the first time, a unique laparoscopic instrument for transcervical insemination in the giant panda, which resulted in the birth of a cub at the National Zoo in 2005. Howard has developed cryopreservation techniques to allow the production of cheetah, leopard cat, and black-footed ferret young from artificial insemination with cold-stored spermatozoa, thereby demonstrating how genome resource banks can contribute to conservation and small population management.
Howard has been an invited member of the multi-institutional
team conducting a ‘Biomedical Survey of Giant Pandas
in Captivity in China’. Her studies have resulted in
new insights into the causes of compromised reproduction of
giant pandas ex situ. With Chinese colleagues, she has been
instrumental in developing new protocols for sperm cryopreservation
and artificial insemination, much of this accomplished by
her commitment to capacity building within China and by training
young Chinese scientists in her laboratory.
Howard, in collaboration with the Nashville Zoo, also developed the Thailand Clouded Leopard Consortium, a collaborative conservation program with the Thailand Zoological Park Organization. A successful ex situ clouded leopard breeding program has been developed at the Thailand's Khao Kheow Open Zoo. In collaboration with Zoo ecologist Peter Leimgruber, an in situ Carnivore Conservation Project has been initiated with the Thailand Department of National Parks and Wildlife at Khao Yai National Park, and local park rangers are being trained to survey and monitor wild carnivores. A link between the ex situ and in situ projects provides strategies to develop innovative methods for carnivore field surveys and provides an unique resource for further training of the park rangers.
Howard led the first-ever study to demonstrate the value of
artificial insemination as a tool for helping recover and
reintroduce an endangered species (the black-footed ferret)
back to nature.
She has produced more than 130 black-footed ferrets by artificial insemination from individuals that failed to reproduce.
She also initiated a multi-disciplinary program
to conduct a Biomedical Survey of Wild Black-Footed
Ferrets to assess health, disease, reproduction, immunology,
and genetics of reintroduced populations in the North American
grasslands ecosystem.
Howard is active in the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the IUCN-World Conservation Union, the Felid Taxon Advisory Group, and numerous Species Survival Plans of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. She holds adjunct appointments at the University of Maryland and George Mason University. Howard has more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books.
Selected Publications
Howard, J.G., Z. Zhang, D. Li, Y. Huang, M. Zhang, R. Hou, Z. Ye, G. Li, J. Zhang, S. Huang, H. Zhang, J. Zhang, R. E. Spindler and D. E. Wildt. 2006. Male reproductive biology in giant pandas. In: The Giant Panda: Biology, Veterinary Medicine and Management (eds., D.E. Wildt, A. Zhang, H. Zhang, D.L. Janssen and S. Ellis), in press. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Howard, J.G., Y. Huang, P. Wang, D. Li, G. Zhang, R. Hou, Z. Zhang, B.S. Durrant, R.E. Spindler, H. Zhang, A. Zhang and D.E. Wildt. 2006. Role and efficiency of artificial insemination and genome resource banking. In: The Giant Panda: Biology, Veterinary Medicine and Management (eds., D. E. Wildt, A. Zhang, H. Zhang, D.L. Janssen and S. Ellis), in press. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Howard, J.G., P.E. Marinari and D.E. Wildt. 2003. Black-footed ferret: Model for assisted reproductive technologies contributing to in situ conservation. In: Reproductive Sciences and Integrated Conservation, W.V. Holt, A.R. Pickard, J.C. Rodger and D.E. Wildt, eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 249-266.
Howard, J.G. 1999. Assisted reproductive techniques in nondomestic carnivores. In: Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine: Current Therapy IV, M.E. Fowler and R.E. Miller, eds., W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, pp. 449-457.
Howard, J.G., T.L. Roth, A.P. Byers, W.F. Swanson and D.E. Wildt. 1997. Sensitivity to exogenous gonadotropins for ovulation induction and laparoscopic artificial insemination in the cheetah and clouded leopard. Biology of Reproduction 56: 1059-1068.
Howard, J.G., A.P. Byers, J.L. Brown, S.J. Barrett, M.Z. Evans, R.J. Schwartz and D.E. Wildt. 1996. Successful ovulation induction and laparoscopic intrauterine artificial insemination in the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). Zoo Biology 15: 55-69.
Howard, J.G. 1993. Semen collection and analysis in carnivores. In: Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine: Current Therapy III, M.E. Fowler, ed., W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, pp. 390-399.
Contact
Smithsonian
National Zoological Park
Conservation and Research Center
3001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone:
202.633.4043; Fax: 202.673.4733
