IVF is providing one last chance to save the northern white rhino from extinction
Photos byJON A JUÁREZ
Life in death
Though it died at just 70 days old, this tiny southern white rhino foetus offers hope. The baby was the result of the first successful attempt to perform IVF on a rhino, carried out by scientists from the BioRescue project in September 2023. The unborn calf had been developing well, but its mother, Curra, died from an unrelated bacterial infection. Now that the procedure has been proven to work, it can be applied to the northern white rhino, potentially helping to save this subspecies from extinction.
Last standing
The northern white rhino population has been decimated by poaching. Only two individuals remain, a female called Najin (age 34, above), and her daughter, Fatu (age 23). The pair live in Kenya's Ol Pejeta Reserve under constant guard. For reasons of age and health, neither can carry a pregnancy to term, so any IVF procedure will use Fatu's eggs and a female southern white rhino as a surrogate.
Complex science
IVF, though well established in humans and domestic animals, is incredibly complex in wild species, particularly large animals such as rhinos. As such, ethical risk assessments are implemented for every step of the procedure. Curra's successful implantation was the lucky 13th attempt at IVF in southern whites.
In remembrance
The last northern white males, Suni and Sudan, died in 2014 and 2018 respectively. This memorial at Ol Pejeta is dedicated to them, and to all rhinos killed by poaching.
Tragic loss
A male southern white rhino called Ouwan, the ‘teaser bull’ for Curra's implantation, undergoes a health check. A teaser bull is a sterilised male that detects when a female is fertile, thus signalling the best time for her to be artificially inseminated. Ouwan died in November 2023, three days before Curra. Both fell victim to serious infection after heavy rain reportedly released bacteria from the soil in their enclosure.
Rhino roots
Curra receiving a health check from Thomas Hildebrandt, head of BioRescue, which determined that she was ready to receive the embryo. The sperm originated from a male called Athos from Salzburg Zoo in Austria; the egg from a female called Elenore from Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium.
Under the lens
Scientists from BioRescue study egg cells harvested from Fatu. The science of rhino IVF is entirely new ground – all the veterinary and scientifi
