Q-news
CITE
We have made every effort to follow citation style rules, but there may be some minor differences. If in doubt, please refer to the appropriate citation style manual.
Northern white rhinoceros dies, leaving only three left. (2022). In Q-files Encyclopedia, , Q-news. Retrieved from
https://www.q-files.com/news/northern-white-rhinoceros-dies-leaving-only-three-left
"Northern white rhinoceros dies, leaving only three left." , Q-news, Q-files Encyclopedia, 10 Feb. 2022.
https://www.q-files.com/news/northern-white-rhinoceros-dies-leaving-only-three-left.
Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.
Northern white rhinoceros dies, leaving only three left 2022. , Q-news. Retrieved 19 March 2024, from
https://www.q-files.com/news/northern-white-rhinoceros-dies-leaving-only-three-left
, Q-news, s.v. "Northern white rhinoceros dies, leaving only three left," accessed March 19, 2024.
https://www.q-files.com/news/northern-white-rhinoceros-dies-leaving-only-three-left
Northern white rhinoceros dies, leaving only three left
One of the world's last three remaining northern white rhinos has died. Sudan, the “gentle giant” who lived in the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya, was put down on Monday after the pain from an illness became too great. He was 45 years old. Only two females, Sudan's daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu, remain—Sudan was the last living male northern white rhino. The northern white is one of the two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other is the southern). It once grazed the savannah grasslands of East and Central Africa before going extinct in the wild. Conservationists hope they might save the subspecies from dying out altogether using IVF.
The northern white rhino population has been devastated by poachers killing them and stealing their horns, which they can sell for high prices—especially in East Asia. Poachers reduced the northern white rhino population to only 15 animals by the 1980s. The population recovered to more than 30, but poaching increased in the 2000s, killing off the wild population entirely by 2008. There are still about 20,000 southern white rhinos in the wild.
All three surviving northern white rhinos had their horns sawn off, making them less vulnerable to the poaching. Radio transmitters have been installed In place of their horns, allowing their exact whereabouts to be monitored at all times.
The future of the world's white rhino population could depend on IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) treatment, a technique for fertilizing an egg in a laboratory. Frozen samples of sperm taken from several northern white males in the past could be used to fertilize the surviving females' eggs. The embryos would then be implanted in female southern white rhinos. But it is not known whether the two subspecies, northern and southern, are similar enough for this treatment to work. Scientists may have to freeze any embryos they create and keep them until they can be sure the technique will be successful.
Researchers are also considering creating embryos using sperm from northern white rhinos and eggs from southern white rhinos. The resulting offspring would be hybrids (a mixture of northern and southern), but by applying crossbreeding techniques, like those commonly used in farming, a population that contained only northern white rhino genes could eventually be produced. Stem cell technology is an alternative hi-tech solution: cells from frozen rhino tissue could be “reprogrammed” into stem cells that would then become both sperm and eggs, allowing embryos to be created. However, such procedures lies years ahead.
How can we save the rhino from poachers? A number of proposals have been put forward. One is to allow hunters to kill ageing rhinos in exchange for payment of an expensive license fee. While this might help pay for conservation, it does little to stop the poachers. A more effective solution might be to reduce the demand for horn products, especially in China and Vietnam, where it is commonly believed that rhino horn is a medicine that can cure many diseases—and where wealthy people are willing to pay a high price for it. A campaign to point out that this belief is mistaken might eventually reduce the demand for rhino horn and thus end the poaching.
A third possibility is to remove the horns altogether, so poachers have no reason to kill the animals. A fourth is to make the rhino horn trade legal: the horns would be “harvested” humanely by authorized experts so that the animals remain alive (rather than have their horns hacked by the poachers, who then leave the rhinos to bleed to death). The horn could then be sold.