JoGayle Howard

Biography

Howard was born on May 20, 1951, in Dallas, Texas. She graduated with a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Texas A&M in 1980. She earned a PhD in reproductive physiology from University of Maryland in 1989.

Originally a veterinarian, Howard later became an expert in animal breeding, receiving the nickname "Sperm Queen"." She used common human infertility treatments, like artificial insemination and In vitro fertilisation, and was a pioneer in electroejaculation techniques.

In 1980, she began working at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C. She oversaw the black-footed ferret breeding program at The National Zoo. With her aid more than 500 kits were born and 150 artificial inseminations were performed.

In 1992, alongside the Nashville Zoo President Rick Schwartz, she conducted the first successful clouded leopard artificial insemination. "If we lose this species," Howard says of the clouded leopards, "that means we probably lose other species in the forest. We may lose the forest all together. It may affect the human race eventually. I think most people want to just see these animals and want their future generations to see these animals. They are unique and nothing's going to replace a clouded leopard.""

From 1998 to 2000, Howard surveyed giant pandas in China. This study helped identify the causes of poor reproduction, which led to a rise in the population of giant pandas in breeding centers and zoos over the next ten years. "I'm not an emotional person," she once told a reporter. "But it's pretty cool when you realize you're putting these animals back where they should be."

Howard oversaw the project to artificially inseminate the National Zoo's female panda, Mei Xiang, and produced the first surviving cub, Tai Shan, in 2005.

She died from cancer on March 5, 2011, in Washington D.C.