A rhinoceros has managed to become pregnant through embryo transfer, a method of assisted reproduction that has worked for the first time and that could open the door to saving the northern white rhinoceros, according to scientists from the German BioRescue consortium, responsible for the project.
Researchers created a white rhino embryo in a lab from an egg and sperm that had previously been collected from several males such as Sudan, euthanized in 2018 due to age-related complications and the father of the only two females left alive.
He was then transferred to a white rhino surrogate mother. She is 70 days pregnant with a well-developed 6.4-centimeter (2.5-inch) male embryo. However, the mother died due to an infection.
Despite the animal’s death, BioRescue scientists believe the pregnancy sheds a halo of hope in their goal of saving the northern white rhino from extinction.
“The successful embryo transfer and pregnancy are proof of concept and now allow us to safely move on to northern white rhino embryo transfer, a cornerstone in the mission to save northern white rhinos from extinction,” they write. through his Instagram account.
BioRescue argues that the application of advanced assisted reproductive technologies “is the only option to create offspring for the northern white rhinoceros, a subspecies of which only two living individuals are known.”
The only two females left are Najin (34 years old) and Fatu (23 years old), who are unable to reproduce naturally, according to the Ol-Pejeta Conservancy, the reserve where they live in Laikipia County, Kenya.
