Southern whites covered the area now encompassing Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa. Northern whites, Sudan’s ancestors, historically lived in what’s now Congo, Uganda, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The northern white rhino is one of two subspecies along with their counterparts, the southern white rhinos. Rhino populations began to plummet in the 1970s, and their numbers plunged dramatically starting in 2008, when demand from Chinese buyers led to a sharp increase in poaching. Poachers are their primary adversary, killing them at the rate of three per day for use in horn products in Southeast and East Asia, including China and Vietnam. White rhinos as an umbrella group are threatened, but they are still the most common of the world’s five remaining rhino species. But in their efforts to save the northern white rhino, scientists are learning what it takes to save such enormous land mammals, and moreover, what it means to try. If not - and the odds of failure seem high - Sudan will be remembered as an endling, a last of his kind, an emblem not just of Africa but of the Anthropocene. ![]() ![]() If scientists are successful, distant descendants of Sudan may once again roam the plains of sub-Saharan Africa. If these blastocysts can be implanted into surrogate mothers, they may eventually grow into rhino fetuses, and ultimately new calves. The blastocysts grew for 13 days before researchers froze them for safekeeping. In May 2018, scientists published research showing that Sudan’s sperm could be combined with eggs harvested from southern white rhino females, and that they could grow into blastocysts, an early embryo that represents the first stage of cell differentiation. But before he retired as a potential sire, scientists harvested some of his sperm. In his youth, Sudan had plenty of chances to mate, though none succeeded. Zacharia Kipkirui, one of the primary rhino caretakers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy visits the gravesite of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino who died in 2018.
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