Sex education is hot topic for wolf scientists

Yes, that's the actual headline, from the Minneapolis-St.Paul Star Tribune:

Mexican wolves that roam the hills of Arizona and New Mexico don't know it, but their Minnesota cousins did them a huge favor last week. The Southwestern wolves are endangered, so scientists tested 14 Minnesota gray wolves as surrogates to learn more about wolf reproduction. It got personal. Eight male wolves donated sperm. Six females had their reproductive organs probed and viewed on monitors. The goal of those and other tests is to improve the chances that artificial insemination can rebuild the endangered Mexican wolf population, said Cheryl Asa, reproductive biologist at the St. Louis Zoo. The zoo team found an ideal lab at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake. The nonprofit center cares for more than 50 gray wolves that have been orphaned, injured or are unable to survive in the wild for other reasons. They and other animals are used for scientific research and education programs...