Did you know that the first IVF cycle was actually performed in rabbits in the year 1891! Here’s an excerpt from the online article:
“In 1891, Walter Heape (1855-1929), a professor and physician at the University of Cambridge, England, who had been conducting research on reproduction in numerous animal species, reported the first known case of embryo transplantation. Working with two species of rabbits, he flushed embryos from the oviducts (rabbit fallopian tubes) of one breed (Angora) and placed them into the uterus of a recently mated Belgian hare. In the resulting litter, there were 4 Belgians and 2 Angoras. Heape proved that it was possible to take preimplantation embryos and transfer them to a gestational carrier without affecting their development.”
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