The world’s last male northern white rhino has died. The rhino, Sudan, had lived in a 700-acre enclosure at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy for nearly a decade. He was protected around the clock by armed guards because he belonged to a subspecies on the verge of extinction from poachers. Rhinos are targeted by poachers who can sell their horns. There are no known white rhinos left in the wild. Sudan was 45 years old, which is elderly in rhino years. His daughter, Najin is 28 and his granddaughter, Fatu, is 17. The elderly rhino suffered from ailments associated with age. During his final years, he was not able to mount a female and suffered from low sperm count, reports CNN, so it was difficult for him to procreate. Najin could potentially conceive, but she has weak hind legs, which means she may be unable to support a mounted male. International experts are resorting to science to try to save the subspecies. The northern white rhino cannot mate with a black rhino, but it could potentially mate with a southern white rhino, which are not endangered and are a different species from the northern white rhino genetically. The offspring would not be 100 percent northern white rhino, but experts feel it would be better than nothing. Researchers were able to save some of Sudan’s genetic materials in the hopes of successfully artificially inseminating one of the two females left. However, it is likely that the animals will go extinct in the next decade or so.
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