In March 2018 last year, the subspecies of northern white rhino became functionally extinct when the last remaining male died last year. Now, scientists may have figured out a way to save the species of rhinoceros by using cutting-edge fertility treatment technology.
Images courtesy: Reuters
In March last year, the 45-year-old northern white rhino male Sudan died at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. He was euthanized after a prolonged battle against "age-related complications that led to degenerative changes in muscles and bones combined with extensive skin wounds."
At the time, the entire world was depressed at the thought of another species of this majestic creature dying out. After all, in the wake of Sudan's death it didn't look like there was much hope for the survival of the last two of his species, both females. But it turns out there may be a way to bring them back from the brink of extinction.?
Last week, scientists harvested 10 eggs from the two remaining rhinos, Najin and Fatu - five oocytes from each. Now, the scientists have been successful in artificially inseminating seven of those 10 eggs at a lab in Italy using Intra Cytoplasm Sperm Injection (ICSI). It's the result of years of tweaking and testing in order to perfect the procedure.
The scientists involved used sperm collected from two northern white rhino bulls, Suni and Sa¨²t, who died in 2014 and 2018. And according to Cesare Galli, managing director of Avantea laboratory, the results were "better than expected."
"We were really able to do something no one before has been able to do," said Jan Stejskal, director of international projects at Dvur Kralove Zoo. "We still don't know whether we'll have embryos, but it was successful anyway. We proved that there is a real chance for them to have offspring."
It'll take about a week however before scientists can tell for sure how many of those fertilized eggs turn into blastocytes, the precursors to embryos. It could be a lifesaver for the northern white rhino. The species were estimated to number about 2,000 in Africa in 1960, before habitat loss and poaching drastically slashed their numbers.