{"id":2174,"date":"2023-10-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.cals.ncsu.edu\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2023-10-18T00:22:55","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T04:22:55","slug":"barbara-durrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.cals.ncsu.edu\/barbara-durrant\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds, Bees and Rhino Babies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

From rattlesnakes to rhinos, Barbara Durrant, a three-time alumna from North Carolina State University\u2019s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has worked with hundreds of different wildlife species throughout her nearly 45-year career at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her focus is the \u201cbirds and the bees\u201d of zoo animals. As the Henshaw Endowed Director of Reproductive Sciences, she studies reproductive biology, endocrinology and behavior, and develops methods to encourage species reproduction with an important goal: conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat could be more interesting than reproduction? And the result is wonderfully cute babies of different species,\u201d Durrant says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Wild Start<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Durrant\u2019s interest in animals began while growing up near Syracuse, New York. She enjoyed spending time outside observing the native wildlife, sometimes returning home with injured birds or mice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy parents were both in medicine, so when I brought home injured animals, they would help to rehabilitate and release them,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her parents urged her to become a vet, but she had her eyes set on exotic animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverywhere my family traveled, I always made them go to the local zoo,\u201d Durrant says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t anybody doing reproductive physiology, so I stepped into a job that wasn\u2019t there and created one. It really was a dream job, and it still is.\u201d <\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

During high school, Durrant\u2019s family moved to North Carolina, and she decided to study animal science<\/a> at NC State. She was one of only two women in the animal science program at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durrant remembers being laughed at by her male classmates\u2014who grew up on farms\u2014because she didn\u2019t have the same skills they did, but she didn\u2019t let that stop her. After earning her bachelor\u2019s degree, she earned a master\u2019s in physiology and a doctorate in reproductive physiology, studying embryo metabolism and reproduction genetics, respectively. She received an Outstanding Alumni Award in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Edward,
Edward, a southern white rhino born in 2019 through artificial insemination, and his mother, Victoria. Photo courtesy of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saving Species<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While earning her master\u2019s degree, Durrant learned that the San Diego Zoo was starting a research program, and she reached out in hopes of landing a position there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved the idea of working with zoo animals, and it was the only zoo that had a research department,\u201d Durrant says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After earning her doctorate, she was hired as a postdoctoral researcher and helped start the now-famous Frozen Zoo, the largest bank of cryopreserved living exotic animal cells in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t anyone doing reproductive physiology research at the zoo, so I stepped into a job that wasn\u2019t there and created one,\u201d Durrant says. \u201cIt really was a dream job, and it still is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durrant leads a team of 16, and her lab manager, Nicole Ravida \u201900, is also an NC State animal science graduate. One of the team\u2019s main projects is helping the northern white rhino avoid extinction. Listed as \u201ccritically endangered,\u201d there are only two northern white rhinos left worldwide, and they\u2019re females who can\u2019t reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Frozen Zoo has cells from northern white rhinos, and researchers are hopeful they can revive the species through careful reproductive planning with their close relative, the southern white rhino, which is listed as \u201cnear threatened.\u201d The zoo has six southern white rhinos that are specially trained for reproductive monitoring, such as ultrasound and hormone analysis. So far, Durrant\u2019s team has welcomed two southern white rhino calves\u2014Edward and Future\u2014through artificial insemination; one from frozen semen, which had rarely been successful in rhinos, and one from chilled semen, which had never been successful in any rhino species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Durrant has also worked on the reproduction of giant pandas, antelope, koalas and cheetahs. With all of her wild success, she hasn\u2019t forgotten about her time at NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of my current work has a basis in the cattle, pigs and sheep I studied at NC State,\u201d Durrant says. \u201cThere are variations, of course, but it\u2019s the same basic studies that are stretched and manipulated for each species.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n