1/17/2024 0 Comments Northern white rhinoceros.Najin, and her offspring Fatu are the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet. “We have hope,” says veterinarian Prof Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, who is the project leader.īut the biggest challenge may not be in producing new rhinos, but the calming of critics who believe that the work should never go ahead in the first place. If all goes according to plan, the pitter-patter of not-so-tiny rhino feet could be just a few years away. The BioRescue project involves cutting-edge veterinary science, cell biology and the creation of ‘test tube rhinos’. For the last seven years, an international group of scientists have been working to bring this charismatic giant back from the brink. In decades gone by, this would have been the end of the line for the northern white rhino, but not anymore. This makes the northern white rhino as good as gone, or, as scientists would call it, ‘functionally extinct.’ Najin and Fatu are ‘dead rhinos walking.’ Neither can reproduce naturally, and even if they could, there are no males left for them to mate with. The rhinos’ names are Najin and Fatu (see main image above), and they are mother and daughter. Later in the day, as the mercury rises, they will retire to a shady spot and have a siesta, watched over by the armed guards who protect them from poachers around the clock. From time to time, they pause tasselled ears twitching, as they lower their broad, flat muzzles to nibble the parched grass. It’s early morning in Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and under a wide African sky, the last two northern white rhinos left on Earth go for a stroll. Here’s how science hopes to save them from extinction There are two northern white rhinos left, both females.
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