Did you know that White Rhinos are nearly extinct? Why are they nearly extinct you might ask.
Well, White Rhinos main threat is being poached for their horns. Poaching these animals has been going on for years, and thinking about how many animals poachers have killed is just devastating.
The Northern White Rhino is one of two species of the rhinoceros. The other being the southern white rhinoceros. Rhinos are grazers in grasslands and savannah woodlands. They used to be found in several countries; East and Central South Africa, south of the Sahara. Since March 19, 2018 there are only two known rhinos left. Their names are Najin and Fatu, both of which are female. Najin and Fatu are a mother and daughter.. They are currently living in Ol Pejeta Conservatory in Kenya. Najin and Fatu are said to love their home; they have room to play and tons of food to eat. They especially love carrots. This mother and daughter also enjoy getting belly rubs from their caregiver Jacob! In their home they have armed guards protecting from someone attempting illegal poaching.
Rhino poaching to most seems like something irrelevant, but it’s something that still has an impact even today. In 2025 alone thirty-five rhinos have been poached from South Africa’s National Park. In that same park there’s been nineteen incidents since 2024. Rhinos are mainly poached for their horns, which countless people believe the horns contain medicine. In reality they’re full of keratin! Scientific reports say there’s no real health benefits despite most beliefs. In parts of Asia where Chinese culture has been brought up for many years, people have been poaching those horns for as long as you can remember. Rhino horns have been a part of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) by doctors who believe that they clear toxins from the body. Yet the new research revealed that while beneficial minerals were present in rhino horn, they only contain very little amounts of nutritional value, not at all enough to be beneficial to your health. The trade in rhino horn has been the main threat to rhino populations in Africa and Asia, where poachers kill the animals and cut their horns off with a machete or chainsaw. Sometimes they even do this when the animals are still alive which is just horrible.
Unfortunately with the rhinos being unable to reproduce, they’re technically extinct. Now the Biorescue team has turned to radical fertility science in hopes we can bring these animals back from the brink of extinction. They started their work on southern rhinos. This is a very close cousin to the northern rhinos and they have a population of thousands. This project has taken many years and they have had to overcome lots of challenges. These scientists learned how to collect eggs from the rhinos, to create the first ever rhino eggs in a lab and figuring out how and when to implant them. It took the scientist thirteen tries to achieve a usable IVF pregnancy using the southern white rhinos. An egg from a female southern white rhino was fertilized with sperm from a male in Austria. Then that egg was transferred to a southern white rhino in Kenya.
However, seventy days into the pregnancy, something awful happened. Unfortunately the mother of the surrogate died after gaining a deadly disease. She had Clostridia which is a bacteria found in the soil. That death really hit the scientist team hard. An after death study revealed that there was a 6.5cm male foetus, and was developing very well with a ninety five percent chance of survival. Even though the surrogate mother died it still showed there’s a chance of another pregnancy! There are only thirty of those precious embryos in existence. Those embryos are stored in liquid nitrogen, in Germany and Italy. Sadly, neither of the last two rhinos are able to carry a pregnancy due to various problems with their age and health. So instead scientists decided the embryos will be implanted into a surrogate southern white rhino. The scientist team never tried IVF on a southern white rhino but they are very confident it will work!
Overall, it is so devastating to see what has happened to these beautiful creatures over the years. Even though scientists are attempting to bring back this species of rhino, we might never be able to. If you would like to learn more about these rhinos, you can check out The National Geographic film on Disney+ and Hulu titled “The Last Rhinos; A New Hope.” The documentary talks about the upcoming news of the embryo and what the scientist did with it. So if you’re interested in learning more about these amazing animals, I would definitely recommend watching it!
Sites used:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_white_rhinoceros
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/tracking-rhinos-on-foot-kenya
- https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/01/world/rhino-ivf-pregnancy-scn-cnnphotos/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68064432
- https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/as-a-medicine-study-finds-rhino-horn-useless-and-potentially-toxic/
- https://lovethelast.com/pages/meet-najin