She plans to use the common wombat as a surrogate mother, to avoid stressing the northern wombat.

ECONOMIST: Endangered species

In the case of the northern wombat, the nucleus could be taken from an easily accessible skin cell, and the egg could be provided by a common wombat.

ECONOMIST: Endangered species

Monique Paris of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, has been working with the common wombat, trying to understand its reproductive cycles as a prelude to tackling the rarer northern hairy-nosed variety, of which only 100 or so survive.

ECONOMIST: Endangered species