This archive report was first published on 21 August 2020.
On Tuesday, an international team of scientists and conservationists made significant progress in their efforts to save the northern white rhino from extinction. The team successfully harvested 10 eggs from the world's two remaining females, Najin and Fatu, at the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Laikipia County.
The eggs were obtained from 29-year-old Najin and 20-year-old Fatu using a probe with a movable needle guided by ultrasound. The oocytes were then airlifted to Avantea Laboratory in Italy for incubation, maturation, and fertilization with sperm from deceased northern white rhino bulls.
The procedure, which was the third of its kind, has raised optimism of success. The team had previously conducted two ovum extractions in August last year and January this year.
"The progress made so far in the assisted reproduction project is very encouraging and we look forward to the transfer of the already developed embryos into Southern White Rhino surrogate females here at Ol Pejeta Conservancy," said Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala.
The northern white rhino is one of the world's rarest species, with the last male, Sudan, dying in March 2018 at the Ol-Pejeta Conservancy. The species is on the brink of extinction, with only two females remaining.
The team of scientists was led by Prof Thomas Hilderbrandt of Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in Berlin and Dr David Ndereeh from the Kenya Wildlife Service. Other experts were from Avantea, Dvůr Králové Zoo, and Ol Pejeta conservancy.
Prof Hilderbrandt said: "We always regarded BioRescue as not only focused on creating new offspring of one single species, but rather as a first milestone in repairing severely disturbed habitats in Central Africa."
