This archive report was first published on 12 September 2019.
Published on September 12, 2019, a breakthrough in assisted reproduction has been achieved by an international consortium of scientists and conservationists from Kenya, Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
The team has successfully developed viable embryos from eggs collected from the last two Northern White Rhino females, Najin and Fatu, and frozen sperm from deceased males.
According to the Kenya Wildlife Service, two of Fatu's eggs have developed into viable embryos after 10 days of incubation and have been cryopreserved for future transfer.
The embryos will be stored in liquid nitrogen and transferred into a surrogate mother in the hopes of bringing the Northern White Rhino back from the brink of extinction.
The team is hopeful that a Northern White Rhino calf can be born via surrogacy within the next three years.
The near-extinction of the Northern White Rhino is blamed on the menace of poaching, which was more rampant in the 1970s and 1980s.
