In the race to save the subspecies of the Nothern white rhino, the stakes are high and scientists needed to come up with a way to ensure that the subspecies survived. With only two female of the subspecies alive worldwide – Fatu and Najin.
The two northern white rhinos, Fatu and Najin, living in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, unfortunately, cannot be able to carry the pregnancy.
Sudan, which was the last surviving male of the species died last year which sparked fears and easiness in the possibilities that this might be the beginning of the extinction of the species.
Hope, however, is on the horizon, as scientists successfully fertilized in-vitro embryos from the two surviving females. The eggs used during this process were harnessed from Fatu and Najin, Fertilized using some sperms that had been harvested from the male Nothern white rhinos.
Surrogate southern white rhino rescues the nothern white rhino race
Two embryos were created and scientist stated that both the embryos were viable. They will be stored in liquid nitrogen waiting to be transferred to surrogate mothers. The embryos will be transferred to a surrogate female southern white rhino to ensure they survive.
The project has taken close to a decade and started in the year 2009 when four surviving northern white rhinos were bought from Czech and brought to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Both males died leaving the two females as the only hope for their survival.
The first male died in the year 2014, with the last one, Sudan dying last year. Their sperms were salvaged and stored cryogenically frozen hoping to find a solution to solve the species.
This is a revolutionary process that has taken a lot of time in development. In fact, one of the scientists who worked in this project, Jan Stejskal of Dvůr Králové Zoo, is confident to say that they were not sure if they could be able to pull it off.
This new found hope about the survival of this endangered species is a glimpse of how science is intervening to restore and maintain the endangered species.
