The last male died in 2018, so natural reproduction is no longer possible. Hope now hangs on artificial fertilization. Fortunately, sperm cells from two males were also preserved.

IVF

Thus, scientists at the Leibniz Institute in Berlin were able to create 12 embryos. The mother and daughter, who live in Kenya, are physically too weak to give birth to a calf. The idea now is to transfer these embryos to the southern white rhino.

Hope for a new flock

There is optimism in the team. They are convinced that new calves will eventually be born. In the first three years, and in the next twenty, the population must be increased to become a herd that can live on its own.

According to scientists, it is no longer ethical to remove eggs from the mother. In addition, Najin is 32 years old and there are signs that she is ill. Only with his daughter Fatou (21) they continued. Both are monitored 24 hours a day.

almost extinct

Fifty years ago, a few thousand northern white rhinos lived in central Africa, but poaching has brought them to the brink of extinction. Only science can save the northern white rhino, which is gray by the way.