Will Weise has built a career around the idea that science can be used not only to study animals, but to actively save them. Working primarily out of Texas while collaborating on conservation efforts with global impact, Weise has become a leading figure in the application of advanced reproductive technology to wildlife conservation. His work offers a new path forward for species facing extinction, including one of the rarest antelope on Earth.
Weise’s journey into veterinary medicine began with a deep connection to the outdoors and an early career in wildlife biology. After working with state wildlife management as a fish biologist, he chose to pursue veterinary school, driven by a desire to combine science, medicine, and conservation. That decision ultimately led him into the highly specialized field of animal reproduction, an area that remains largely unseen by the public but plays a critical role in both agriculture and conservation.
Over the past decade, Weise has worked with an extraordinary range of species. His experience spans North American wildlife such as deer and elk, as well as African species including giraffes, zebras, and multiple types of antelope. While the animals vary, the underlying focus is understanding reproduction at its most detailed level and using that knowledge to improve survival and sustainability.
One of the most urgent challenges he has taken on is the conservation of the bongo antelope. Native to Kenya, this striking forest antelope has seen its population collapse due to habitat loss from logging and continued pressure from poaching. Today, estimates suggest that only around one hundred to one hundred forty individuals remain in fragmented pockets of forest. With such small numbers, traditional conservation methods struggle to reverse the decline.
Bongos face an additional biological limitation. A female bongo can typically produce only one calf per year. Even under ideal conditions, population growth is slow, leaving little margin for error when threats continue to mount. This reality led Weise to explore a more radical solution, one that relies on reproductive science rather than natural timelines.
Decades ago, researchers demonstrated that the common eland, a larger and far more abundant antelope species, could act as a surrogate for a bongo embryo. Weise and his collaborators revisited this idea using modern techniques. By collecting embryos from bongo females and implanting them into common eland surrogates, they successfully achieved the birth of a healthy bongo calf carried by a different species.
Instead of being limited to a single calf per year, one bongo female can now produce multiple embryos in a single cycle. Those embryos can be implanted into several surrogate mothers, multiplying reproductive output many times over. In theory, this approach could dramatically accelerate population recovery in a fraction of the time previously required.
The success did not come quickly or easily. The project involved years of trial and error, dozens of embryos, and multiple pregnancies that did not reach full term. Each attempt, successful or not, provided critical data that refined the process. With each iteration, efficiency improved, and confidence grew that this method could become a reliable conservation tool.
Beyond live births, Weise’s work also focuses on embryo preservation. Frozen embryos can remain viable for decades, effectively safeguarding genetic material against future catastrophes. If disease, habitat destruction, or climate events were to wipe out a wild population, preserved embryos could one day be used to restore the species or reintroduce lost genetic diversity.
This capability also solves transportation, one of conservation’s most difficult logistical challenges. Moving large animals across continents is expensive, risky, and stressful for the animals involved. Embryos, by contrast, are microscopic and can be safely transported in small containers, making international conservation efforts far more practical.
Many of the techniques used in this work are already common in agriculture. A large portion of the world’s dairy and beef production relies on embryo transfer to improve efficiency and genetic quality. Weise applies similar principles to wildlife, adapting them to species with far less existing research and much higher conservation stakes.
The bongo project has been supported in part through private funding, demonstrating how individual vision and commitment can play a critical role in advancing conservation science. As success builds and methods improve, this model could be expanded to other endangered species around the world.
Want more Innovation Saves Lives? Check out the articles or head over to Apple Podcasts.
