This archive report was first published on 2 September 2019.
On August 25th, an international consortium of scientists and conservationists achieved a significant milestone in the effort to save the northern white rhino from extinction. The team successfully matured and artificially inseminated seven out of ten eggs from the world's last two northern white rhinos, Najin and Fatu, in Kenya.
According to Cesare Galli of Avantea in Cremona, Italy, who led the fertilization procedure, the team used ICSI (Intra Cytoplasm Sperm Injection) with frozen sperm from two different northern white rhino bulls, Suni and Saut. This is a critical step towards creating viable embryos that can be frozen and later transferred to southern white rhino surrogate mothers.
Prof. Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) leads the international research consortium. Key project partners include Dv?r Králové Zoo, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and the Kenya Wildlife Service. The research program, BioRescue, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
The results of possible embryo development are expected to be announced around September 10th. The team's success is a significant step towards the conservation of the northern white rhino species.
