Sudan, the last remaining male northern white rhino in the world, has died; now only two females of the subspecies remain, so the only hope for extinction is assisted reproduction.
SUDAN DIES, THE LAST WHITE RHINOCEROS MALE IN THE WORLD
Sudan is dead and the last remaining male northern white rhino in the world has succumbed to it. Now, the days of the subspecies of the north are numbered, with only two females left alive: Najin, daughter of Sudan, and Fatu, her granddaughter.
Both rhinos reside in the Kenyan nature reserve of Ol Pejeta, where he has lived since 2009 and will go down in history as the last authentic male northern white rhino to walk the earth. However, his semen has been left behind to try to inseminate his offspring with it and ensure that the species does not become extinct. But it’s complicated.
Sudan’s health status, at 45, had worsened in recent months. The animal had not been able to recover from the infection in his right leg fully. “His illness worsened significantly in the last 24 hours; he was unable to stand up and was having a tough time,” the Ol Pejeta reserve reported. The team from this natural enclosure, along with the Czech zoo veterinarian Dvur Králové and the Kenyan Wildlife Conservation Service (KWS), decided to euthanize him yesterday.
“Sudan will be remembered for its memorable and unusual life,” said the reserve, which explained that in the 1970s it managed to survive the extinction of its species and was moved to the Dvur Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. At the end of his life, he managed to return to Africa, to the nature reserve in Laikipia, in the center-west of Kenya, where he died.
Sudan reached great popularity after a campaign launched on the social network Tinder by the leaders of Ol Pejeta to get the $9 million needed to develop assisted fertilization techniques valid for these animals.
“I am unique. I’m the last male, white rhino on planet Earth. I don’t mean to sound like a freeloader, but the fate of my species depends on me. I act under pressure. I’m 6’3,” and I weigh 2,267 pounds, in case this matters,” he described in his profile.
SUDAN DIES, What’s?
It should be noted that for years, poaching of these animals has contributed to their imminent extinction because their horns are paid at higher prices than gold on the Asian market due to alleged healing and aphrodisiac properties, which makes them a coveted product.
In December 2017, a committee of veterinarians, ecologists and wildlife experts from Kenya, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and South Africa met to try to save the life of the last living specimen of the northern male, white rhinoceros. Sudan was too old to mate, so the only hope for keeping the species alive was artificial insemination, something that has never been attempted with rhinoceroses until now.
The hope now is that the two females can be inseminated with semen from southern white rhino males. The reserve has announced on its Twitter account that it has collected genetic material from Sudan (this subspecies is in better health, and its number is still high, although in difficulty) with the aim of “attempting to reproduce the northern white rhino through advanced cellular technologies.”