Insemination Cheaper in Thailand?

[Joe M]

Thai vets successfully impregnate elephant

September 01 2006 at 12:20PM

Bangkok - Thai veterinarians have for the first time succeeded in impregnating an elephant through artificial insemination, and the procedure was 10 times cheaper in Thailand than it was in Israel, media reports said on Friday.

The baby pachyderm was expected to be born in March, the Thai News Agency said.

The artificial insemination, the first successful such procedure performed in Thailand, cost 200 000 baht (about R38 000), 10 times cheaper than the first artificial insemination of an Asian elephant, which was carried out in Israel by German veterinarians, Thai specialists said.

Dr Sitthidej Mahasawangkul, head of the Elephant Hospital at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, said the Thai veterinary team was attempting to develop an artificial-insemination technique using frozen sperm to increase the country's population of elephants. - Sapa-dpa

www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=143&art_id=qw1157103721779B234

[bkk gwm]

I've long been curious of the turn of phrase like "10 times cheaper". Is that proper English? I assume it means "1/10th of the price"?

[Joe M]

You got it. It's a proper Amercian English phrase.

[sfokevin]

I would assume Thais have a lighter touch... Therefore fewer veterinary staff rushed to the hospital with broken elbows...

And as a side note you have to give the Israelis credit... There are over a billion people praying (and planning) to wipe them off the face of the earth and they find time to import Asian Elephants and then invite some German scientists to breed them!!!

[Joe M]

It works for me!

[AmericanDonny]

Not to gross people out, but how do you actually inseminate an elephant. My dad was a farmer and inseminating a cow involved thrusting his arm into the poor (or ecstatic) animal's rear all the way up to the hilt. I'm not sure if anybody would be willing to volunteer to to the same for a poor (or ecstatic) pachyderm.

[Pearl of the Orient]

Did you pick up on any of your Dad's skills ?

"My dad was a farmer and inseminating a cow involved thrusting his arm into the poor (or ecstatic) animal's rear all the way up to the hilt. "

If so Edith's been looking for someone like you a verry long time.

[Geezer]

Did you ever wonder how sperm is obtained for artificial insemination? I once saw a list of the ten worst jobs. On the list was the worker who’s job is to masturbate stallions on a stud farm in order to obtain semen. Any volunteers to obtain elephant semen?

[dab69]

aren't there too many already?

[Joe M]

"High quality ejaculates (n=4) were collected from two Asian elephant bulls by rectal massage".

Would you like to learn more?

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15036508&dopt=Abstract

[sfokevin]

n=4 ???.... This is a scale I am unfamilair with... Is this from multiple orgasams or is it a quality rating Anyone know?

[Joe M]

N=4 is a scientific / statistical notation for a sample size of 4. That is, 4 separate ejaculations were collected.

[Brad the Impala]

An ex-poster from these parts, Taoboxer, pays by ejaculation, and may be interested.