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John Hollenhorst Reporting
Wildlife experts in Nevada are trying to rescue one of the world's most endangered species by breeding them in, of all places, a Las Vegas casino.
For decades a fence has protected the unique habitat of one of the world's rarest animals. It's Devil's Hole, a cave near Death Valley. The water goes hundreds, perhaps thousands of feet deep. The tiny Devil's Hole Pupfish lives it's whole life there.
It depends on a reliable water level; it spawns only on a small rock shelf just inches below the surface.
Terry Baldino, Death Valley National Park: "When you think of an animal living in the world today whose entire existence survives on something that small, and has done so for thousands of years quite successfully, that makes for a pretty amazing little critter."
But now there's a crisis. Pupfish numbers are mysteriously dropping; there are only 38 left in the latest count.
Cynthia Martinez, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service :"There is no smoking gun, if you will, to really direct us to what is causing this population to decline."
The water level seems extraordinarily sensitive to outside events, fluctuating with the daily tides. It even went up and down seven inches following the earthquake that triggered the Asian tsunami. But no one knows if water levels have anything to do with the current crisis.
All this brings us to the Mandalay Bay Casino and its popular tourist attraction, the Shark Reef aquarium. In an animal care facility off-limits to the public, experts volunteered to try pupfish breeding.
Jack Jewell, Shark Reef Curator, Mandalay Bay Casino: "I think that we can succeed. I think it may take some time and some very careful experimentation."
The pupfish have laid some eggs. They look like tiny pearls. But the females are notoriously stingy, laying very few eggs, one at a time.
If they survive, it's likely the Devil's Hole pupfish will always be rare. Their niche in the web of life is unique, tiny, always vulnerable.
Two years ago a flash flood washed research equipment into Devil's Hole, trapping and killing many of the pupfish. Experts say that accident was a big setback, but it does not account for the current population crisis.
