San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's 'Frozen Zoo' turns 50, goes global

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's 'Frozen Zoo' turns 50, goes global

Frozen Zoo founder Dr. Kurt Benirschke holding a genetic sample at his Frozen Zoo in 1979. (Photo courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance) In a world being rewritten by a changing climate and environmental devastation, “biobanking” efforts may hold a key to species survival. Biobanking is the practice of storing living genetic material, such as living cells, or sperm and ova. While it is most often associated with human material, San Diego’s Fr…