Scientists are on the brink of saving the critically endangered northern white rhino from extinction through innovative methods of assisted reproduction. With only two females of the subspecies left, scientists are using IVF techniques and frozen genetic material from deceased individuals to create viable embryos. This technique has already resulted in the creation of two viable embryos, which will be implanted into surrogate mothers later this year. However, the process is not without criticism, with some arguing that it is too expensive, while others suggest that translocating southern white rhinos to the areas where northern white rhinos once roamed would be a more practical solution. Despite this, the work being done to save the northern white rhino could pave the way for similar interventions in other endangered species.
Saving the Northern White Rhino from Extinction
The northern white rhino, once a common sight in eastern and central Africa, is now on the brink of extinction. With only two females left on the planet, both of whom cannot reproduce naturally, the species is considered functionally extinct. However, the BioRescue project, led by Professor Thomas Hildebrandt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, aims to save the charismatic giant from oblivion using cutting-edge veterinary science, cell biology, and the creation of ‘test tube rhinos.’
The last two northern white rhinos on Earth are Najin and Fatu, mother and daughter, who live in Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy. They are protected by 24/7 armed security from poachers. BioRescue involves collecting and freezing the semen of the remaining males before their deaths, which could potentially produce offspring from beyond the grave.
The project’s ultimate goal is to create “test tube rhinos” by using advanced cell biology techniques, including stem cell research and artificial insemination. If successful, this innovative approach could bring the northern white rhino back from the brink of extinction. However, the project’s success hinges on calming critics who question the ethics of using such advanced technology to bring a species back from the dead.
The BioRescue project has been ongoing for the last seven years and has involved scientists from around the world. While the creation of new rhinos is possible, the biggest challenge may be convincing the public that the project is a worthwhile investment, despite its high cost.
The northern white rhino’s population crashed due to poaching, habitat destruction, and armed conflict, with only 15 animals left in the wild by the 1980s. When they died, conservationists hoped that the captive population would kickstart the population, but the rhinos did not breed well in captivity, and the last male, Sudan, died in 2018.
In conclusion, the BioRescue project could be the northern white rhino’s last hope for survival. Using advanced veterinary science and cell biology, it aims to bring the species back from the brink of extinction, but its success depends on public support and acceptance.
The Science behind Saving the Northern White Rhino
The northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction, with only two females left on the planet. But thanks to Professor Thomas Hildebrandt and the BioRescue project, there may be hope yet. Hildebrandt has spent years perfecting the method of harvesting eggs from female rhinos, including devising a method to harvest eggs from other, more common, rhino species. However, by the time the method was perfected, only one of the two remaining female northern white rhinos, Fatu, was available to donate eggs.
Hildebrandt and his team have successfully performed the procedure on Fatu 11 times since 2019, collecting 164 oocytes. However, these are large cells that do not freeze or store well, so they must be used fresh. After the eggs are harvested, they are flown to a specialist lab in Italy, where they are matured in a bespoke cocktail of chemicals and used for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
IVF involves fusing the egg and sperm in a dish to create a “test tube embryo.” Thawed sperm is injected directly into the egg, and the embryo is then frozen in liquid nitrogen until it is ready to be implanted into a surrogate rhino mother. Hildebrandt and his team have already created 24 embryos using eggs from Fatu and sperm from two different males.
However, neither Najin nor Fatu are suitable surrogates for the embryos. Najin’s back legs are too weak to carry a pregnancy, and Fatu has problems with her uterus. Fortunately, the southern white rhino, a close relative of the northern white rhino, may be able to carry the embryos to term.
Although the project faces criticism from some who question the ethics of using advanced technology to bring a species back from the dead, the BioRescue project remains committed to saving the northern white rhino from extinction using cutting-edge veterinary science, cell biology, and the creation of ‘test tube rhinos.’
The Future of Northern White Rhinos
The northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction, with only two females left on the planet. However, the BioRescue project aims to use cutting-edge veterinary science, cell biology, and the creation of ‘test tube rhinos’ to save the species. This year, Professor Thomas Hildebrandt and his team hope to implant one of their northern white embryos into one of the southern white rhino surrogates living in Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
However, there’s a catch: all of the northern white embryos created so far come from just three ‘parent’ animals, one female and two males. The fear of inbreeding means that any calves born would be siblings or half-siblings and would never be allowed to mate with each other. To create a healthy, genetically diverse population, the scientists need more eggs and sperm from other, non-related rhinos.
Fortunately, there is hope. For over 40 years, conservationists have been collecting and freezing living cells from endangered species. The ‘Frozen Zoo,’ run by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, contains over 70,000 samples from more than 700 species, including skin cells from 12 different northern white rhinos.
In 2011, cell biologist Dr Jeanne Loring from the Scripps Research Institute showed that these skin cells can be ‘reprogrammed’ to become stem cells, which can become the precursors of egg and sperm. This means that rhino eggs and sperm could be grown in the lab, using frozen, decades-old skin cells as the starting point. This research could be a game changer, providing scientists with the cells required to create a viable northern white rhino population.
Hildebrandt and his team have already successfully harvested oocytes from the remaining female northern white rhino, Fatu, and used them for in vitro fertilization. Although the embryos are currently frozen in liquid nitrogen, the scientists hope to implant them into a southern white rhino surrogate later this year. The first calf could be born as soon as 2024, with more to follow as more surrogates are recruited.
While the project still faces criticism from those who question the ethics of using advanced technology to bring a species back from the dead, the BioRescue project remains committed to saving the northern white rhino. Thanks to innovative cell biology, scientists have the cells required to create a viable population, and increasingly, they have the methods required to make it happen.
The BioRescue Programme: Saving the Northern White Rhino from Extinction
The northern white rhino is a subspecies of white rhino that is on the brink of extinction. With just two females left in the world, the future of the northern white rhino is in serious jeopardy. However, a team of scientists, led by Prof Thomas Hildebrandt, is working tirelessly to save the subspecies from extinction.
IVF and Surrogacy
Hildebrandt and his team have developed a method to harvest oocytes from the only available donor, 22-year-old Fatu, the last remaining female northern white rhino. They have collected 164 oocytes from Fatu, which have been matured in a lab in Italy and used for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). So far, 24 viable embryos have been created using eggs from Fatu and sperm from two different males. However, the only suitable surrogate rhino mothers for the embryos are southern white rhinos. Two of these southern white rhinos have been earmarked as surrogates, and Hildebrandt and his team hope to implant one of their northern white embryos into one of these surrogates later this year. Rhino pregnancies last about 18 months, and if all goes well, the first calf could be born in 2024.
Genetic Diversity
All of the northern white embryos created so far come from just three ‘parent’ animals, which means that any calves born will be siblings or half-siblings. To avoid inbreeding, scientists need more eggs and sperm from other, non-related rhinos. Skin cells collected over the years from endangered species such as the northern white rhino have been preserved at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s ‘Frozen Zoo’. Recent research has shown that these skin cells can be ‘reprogrammed’ to become stem cells that can then be coaxed to become egg and sperm cells. This opens up the possibility of creating genetically diverse northern white rhino embryos in the lab using cells from different individuals in the Frozen Zoo.
Rhinos and Ecosystems
Rhinos are ecosystem engineers that play a crucial role in maintaining the health of the grasslands in Africa. By mowing the grass, they create grazing lawns on which other species like impala and wildebeest depend. When the fires come, these closely-cropped patches act as natural firebreaks, providing safe havens for fire-intolerant plants and slow-moving animals. Rhino dung returns nutrients to the ground, and their ticks provide food for birds such as oxpeckers. When they wallow, they create and maintain waterholes. The goal of the BioRescue programme is to reintroduce viable populations of northern white rhinos into the wild to help preserve these ecosystems.
Criticisms of the BioRescue Programme
Some critics argue that the BioRescue programme is too expensive and that funding would be better spent protecting other rhino species, such as the black rhino in Africa or the Indian rhino in Asia. Others argue that the project sets a dangerous precedent, that it’s okay to let species dwindle to the brink of extinction because we can always bring them back later. Hildebrandt points out that the BioRescue programme is not competing with other conservation missions or diverting funds from them. He also acknowledges that this is something that cannot be done routinely for each species, precisely because it is so costly. Ethicist Prof Ronald Sandler argues that traditional conservation methods are about undoing human impacts, and this work is not so different. The methods may be novel, but they’re still about undoing the damage that our species unleashed when it began to hunt and kill the northern white rhino.
Conclusion
The future of the northern
The Northern White Rhino: Should We Save It?
The northern white rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum cottoni, is one of the most critically endangered species on the planet. With just two females, Fatu and Najin, and no males left in the wild, the future of the subspecies looks bleak. However, a group of scientists is working tirelessly to save the northern white rhino from extinction. The BioRescue programme, led by Professor Thomas Hildebrandt, has successfully created several viable northern white rhino embryos, but there are still obstacles to overcome.
The Role of Rhinos in Ecosystems
Rhinos are remarkable animals that shape entire ecosystems. They are essential in creating grazing lawns that species like impala and wildebeest depend on. When the fires come, these closely-cropped patches act as natural firebreaks, providing safe havens for fire-intolerant plants and slow-moving animals. Rhino dung returns nutrients to the ground, and their ticks provide food for birds. When they wallow, they create and maintain waterholes.
Let it go?
Some argue that the BioRescue programme is too expensive, and that funding would be better spent protecting other rhino species that are also threatened, but not to the extent of requiring assisted reproductive techniques to save them. However, Hildebrandt argues that the programme is not competing with other conservation missions, or diverting funds from them.
Others feel that the time has come to let nature run its course, and let the northern white rhino go. It’s an interesting argument, but if conservation is in the business of saving species, shouldn’t it be in the business of saving subspecies too?
Saving Subspecies
The small differences that do exist between the northern and southern white rhino may well turn out to be important, but in the absence of any scientific data to support this idea, some argue that we should translocate southern white rhinos into the areas where we’d like northern white rhinos to be, and then let natural selection do its job.
There’s another important reason why the work of Hildebrandt and colleagues is so very valuable. By perfecting their methods in one endangered species, it paves the way to do it in others. Hildebrandt’s methods are already being employed to collect semen samples from other endangered mammals, including tigers and pandas. He’s working to perfect egg retrieval and embryo implants in elephants, while Dr Jeanne Loring has reprogrammed skin cells from an endangered African monkey species called the drill.
The Future of the Northern White Rhino
Hildebrandt believes that these methods could help not only the northern white rhino but also other endangered species. “Of course, we’d rather that they didn’t need this kind of intervention in the first place,” he says, “and yet, here we are.” With the cells required to create a viable northern white rhino population and the methods required to make it happen, scientists have a real chance of reintroducing these animals into the wild. By doing so, they can restore the balance of the ecosystem and prevent further extinctions.
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