Nabil Mansour

Introduction: This study addresses the need for automated monitoring solutions to evaluate the daily activity patterns of camels, which is critical for improving animal welfare and farm management practices. By leveraging advanced deep learning techniques, this research aims to identify and analyze five key daily activities—sleeping, sitting, standing, eating, and drinking—using video recordings from a camel farm in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.Methods: The dataset was collected over two 7-day phases in November and December 2022. In Phase 1, video recordings were analyzed to monitor the activities of two camels and measure the duration of each activity. In Phase 2, the study expanded to include six camels, enabling an evaluation of individual behavioral variations. The YOLOv7 object detection algorithm was used to train and validate the model on images extracted from the recordings, achieving high accuracy in detecting and classifying the defined activities.Results: The results showed notable variations in activity patterns between Phases 1 and 2. Average standing time decreased from 9.8 hours (40.8%) to 6.0 hours (25.1%), and sleeping time dropped from 4.3 hours (18.0%) to 2.8 hours (11.7%). Conversely, sitting time increased from 6.2 hours (25.8%) to 9.9 hours (41.5%), and eating time rose from 3.1 hours (12.8%) to 4.6 hours (19.2%). Drinking time remained consistent at an average of 37 minutes (2.6%) across both phases. Activity peaks were observed during early mornings and after 16:00, with midday hours dominated by resting in shaded areas. Evening and nighttime activities primarily included sitting, minimal head movements, and occasional standing or walking.Discussion: The established deep learning framework demonstrated reliable performance in detecting and analyzing camel activity patterns, offering a practical solution for continuous monitoring and improved farm management. However, further research is recommended to validate the model’s performance across different seasons and environmental conditions to enhance its robustness and adaptability.

Primary themes in intergenerational justice are a healthy environment, the perpetuation of Earth’s biodiversity, and the sustainable management of the biosphere. However, the current rate of species declines globally, ecosystem collapses driven by accelerating and catastrophic global heating, and a plethora of other threats preclude the ability of habitat protection alone to prevent a cascade of amphibian and other species mass extinctions. Reproduction and advanced biotechnologies, biobanking of germplasm and somatic cells, and conservation breeding programs (RBCs) offer a transformative change in biodiversity management. This change can economically and reliably perpetuate species irrespective of environmental targets and extend to satisfy humanity’s future needs as the biosphere expands into space. Currently applied RBCs include the hormonal stimulation of reproduction, the collection and refrigerated storage of sperm and oocytes, sperm cryopreservation, in vitro fertilization, and biobanking of germplasm and somatic cells. The benefits of advanced biotechnologies in development, such as assisted evolution and cloning for species adaptation or restoration, have yet to be fully realized. We broaden our discussion to include genetic management, political and cultural engagement, and future applications, including the extension of the biosphere through humanity’s interplanetary and interstellar colonization. The development and application of RBCs raise intriguing ethical, theological, and philosophical issues. We address these themes with amphibian models to introduce the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Special Issue, The Sixth Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, and Conservation Breeding Programs.

Primary themes in intergenerational justice are a healthy environment, the perpetuation of Earth’s biodiversity, and the sustainable management of the biosphere. However, the current rate of species declines globally, ecosystem collapses driven by accelerating and catastrophic global heating and a plethora of other threats, preclude the ability of habitat protection alone to prevent a cascade of amphibian and other species mass extinctions. Reproduction biotechnologies, biobanking, and conservation breeding programs (RBCs), enabling species restoration, offer a critical transformative change that can economically and reliably perpetuate species irrespective of environmental targets. These capacities extend indefinitely into the future and satisfy humanities needs as the biosphere expands into space. Currently applied RBCs include the hormonal stimulation of reproduction, the collection and refrigerated storage of sperm and oocytes, sperm cryopreservation, in vitro fertilisation, along biobanking. Advanced biotechnologies such as assisted evolution and cloning for species adaptation or restoration have yet to be fully realised. We broaden our discussion to include genetic management, broad political and cultural engagement, and future applications. The development and application of RBCs, and particularly assisted evolution and species restoration, raise intriguing ethical, theological, and philosophical issues. We address these themes with amphibian models to introduce the MDPI Special Issue, The Sixth Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, and Conservation Breeding Programs.

Intergenerational justice entitles the maximum retention of Earth’s biodiversity. The 2022 United Nations COP 15, “Ecological Civilisation: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth”, is committed to protecting 30% of Earth’s terrestrial environments and, through COP 28, to mitigate the effects of the climate catastrophe on the biosphere. We focused this review on three core themes: the need and potential of reproduction biotechnologies, biobanks, and conservation breeding programs (RBCs) to satisfy sustainability goals; the technical state and current application of RBCs; and how to achieve the future potentials of RBCs in a rapidly evolving environmental and cultural landscape. RBCs include the hormonal stimulation of reproduction, the collection and storage of sperm and oocytes, and artificial fertilisation. Emerging technologies promise the perpetuation of species solely from biobanked biomaterials stored for perpetuity. Despite significant global declines and extinctions of amphibians, and predictions of a disastrous future for most biodiversity, practical support for amphibian RBCs remains limited mainly to a few limited projects in wealthy Western countries. We discuss the potential of amphibian RBCs to perpetuate amphibian diversity and prevent extinctions within multipolar geopolitical, cultural, and economic frameworks. We argue that a democratic, globally inclusive organisation is needed to focus RBCs on regions with the highest amphibian diversity. Prioritisation should include regional and international collaborations, community engagement, and support for RBC facilities ranging from zoos and other institutions to those of private carers. We tabulate a standard terminology for field programs associated with RBCs for publication and media consistency.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has the unique ability to replicate animals of high genetic merit, making it an exquisite tool in animal breeding. In this study, we successfully produced four cloned calves from a deceased high-performance milking camel. A total of 95 open female camels were involved, with 33 serving as oocyte donors and 62 as recipients. Cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were collected from super-stimulated camels using ultrasound-guided ovum pick-up (OPU). Single, double, or 3-4 blastocysts at various stages of development were transferred to synchronized recipients. Pregnancy was confirmed through progesterone assays and ultrasonographic scanning, while parentage of the cloned calves was verified via microsatellite analysis. We collected 476 COCs from 614 follicles, achieving an average recovery rate of 76.9 ± 10.5%. Of these, 410 were at the metaphase II stage, resulting in an average maturation rate of 87.8 ± 12.6%. The average fusion, cleavage, and blastocyst rates were 84.3 ± 11.1%, 73.2 ± 10.6%, and 32.8 ± 10.4%, respectively. The four clones were born from two camels that received single embryos and two camels that received two embryos, all of which continued to three months of pregnancy. No live births were observed in the group that received 3-4 embryos. The unhatched and hatching blastocyst groups produced one and three calves, respectively, while no live births were observed from hatched blastocysts. We recommend transferring two cloned unhatched or hatching blastocysts per recipient to increase pregnancy rates and reduce pregnancy losses in dromedary camels.

Intergenerational Justice entitles the maximum retention of Earth’s Biodiversity. The United Nations COP 15 committed to the protection of 30% of Earth’s terrestrial environments to provide Biospheric Sustainability. However, proactive amphibian sustainability needs support from amphibian Reproduction Technologies, Biobanking, and Conservation Breeding Programs [RBCs]. These technologies include the reliable practice of stimulation of reproduction and the collection of sperm and oocytes, refrigerated and cryopreserved sperm storage, in vitro fertilization. Emerging technologies promise the perpetuation of species solely from biobanked biomaterials. However, although exemplary national programs for amphibian RBCs are now established in the USA and Australia, these potentials are not fully realised resulting in unacceptable biodiversity loss. To fully realise these potentials an independent and democratic global organisation is proposed to, 1) focus on the bioregions with the highest amphibian biodiversity, 2) maximise regional inclusion in international initiatives, and 3) provide for maximum community engagement and financial resources. We present the first overall multidisciplinary review of amphibian RBCs, including their geopolitical, cultural, and scientific background, along with their development and application to economically, efficiently, and reliably, perpetuate amphibian biodiversity. We provide genetic models, the potential for diploid cell cryopreservation to perpetuate species, along with significant new information on methodologies and techniques, and standardise nomenclature for specificity in publications and media consistency.

This is the first study to test the embryo transfer (ET) of hybrid embryos in Old World camelids and produces a live calf from a dromedary recipient. Hybrid embryos were collected from 7 dromedary and 10 Bactrian donors, with or without ovarian super-stimulation, and transferred to dromedary recipients. Pregnancy diagnosis was conducted on Day 10 post-ET by using the progesterone-ELISA test and trans-rectal ultrasonography at 1 and 2 months of gestation. The date of abortion, stillbirth, or normal calving for each pregnant recipient was recorded. Without ovarian super-stimulation, two and one recipients were pregnant at 10 days post-ET, from. Bactrian X. dromedary and. dromedary X. Bactrian, respectively. While at 2 months of gestation, only one recipient was diagnosed pregnant from. Bactrian X. dromedary. Response to ovarian super-stimulation was successful in all 4 of the tested dromedary donors and in 8 out of 10 Bactrian donors. Additionally, 4 super-stimulated Bactrian donors (40%) showed failure of ovulation. The number of super-stimulated developed follicles and recovered embryos was higher in dromedary donors compared to Bactrian donors. Ten and two recipients were diagnosed pregnant at 10 days post-ET for. Bactrian X. dromedary and. dromedary X. Bactrian, respectively. At 2 months of gestation, the number of pregnant recipients from. Bactrian X. dromedary was reduced to eight, while the two pregnant recipients from. dromedary X. Bactrian remained pregnant. Total early pregnancy loss at 2 months gestation for all transferred hybrid embryos, obtained with or without ovarian super-stimulation, was 4/15 (26.6%). One healthy male calf was born from a recipient, with a total gestation period of 383 days, that received an embryo from a Bactrian male and a dromedary donor. Stillbirth was observed in six cases after 10.5-12 months of gestation and three cases aborted between 7 and 9 months of gestation due to trypanosomiasis. In conclusion, ET of hybrid embryos in Old World camelids is successful. However, further studies are required to improve the outcome of this technology to be used for meat and milk production in camels.

This study proposed to collect and analyze the daily activities of dromedary camels kept under farm conditions by training a model depending on frames as opposed to long-term windows. Any change in daily activities gives information on the camel’s health status, and an early warning can be generated to issue a signal upon identifying any diseased camels. Five daily activities: eating, standing, sitting, drinking, and sleeping, were recorded, and analyzed in two phases, each of 7 days of continuous video recordings in November and December 2022. Phase 1 was applied on two camels to test the time elapsed for each daily activity and Phase 2 was applied on 4 camels to determine the difference in daily activities between different camel individuals. The average standing and sleeping activities reduced from 9.8 h to 6.0 h, and from 4.3 h to 2.8 h in phases 1 and 2, respectively. While the average sitting and eating activities increased from 6.2 h to 9.9 h and from 3 h to 4.7 h in phases 1 and 2, respectively. The average drinking activity for all tested camels was 43 min in both phases. All camels were active in the eating, drinking, and standing activities during the early morning hours and after 16:00 O’clock till evening. While during noon and early afternoon, they were sitting under shadows. During the evening and nighttime, they mainly sat, occasionally moving their heads, with some standing and walking activities. The average eating, standing, and sleeping activities did not differ between the 4 tested camels throughout the experiment. While the drinking and sitting activities showed an average variation of 25% and 12%, respectively, in between the tested camels. In conclusion, the camel’s daily activities can be monitored by using the deep learning model. This model efficiently monitors and improves the health of camels kept on farms in remote areas beyond human control.