Northern white rhino: Last male Sudan dies in Kenya

[IceWizard]

The world's last surviving male northern white rhino has died after months of poor health, his carers say.

Sudan, who was 45, lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. He was put to sleep on Monday after age-related complications worsened significantly.

His death leaves only two females - his daughter and granddaughter - of the subspecies alive in the world.

Hope for preserving the northern white rhino now lies in developing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques.

"His death is a cruel symbol of human disregard for nature and it saddened everyone who knew him," said Jan Stejskal, an official at Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, where Sudan had lived until 2009.

"But we should not give up," he added in quotes carried by AFP news agency.

"We must take advantage of the unique situation in which cellular technologies are utilised for conservation of critically endangered species. It may sound unbelievable, but thanks to the newly developed techniques even Sudan could still have an offspring."



It is with great sadness that Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the Dvůr Králové Zoo announce that Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, age 45, died at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on March 19th, 2018 (yesterday).


Why is this kind of rhino so rare?

Rhinoceroses - of which there are five species - are the second-largest land mammal after elephants. The white rhinoceros consists of two sub-species: the southern white rhino and the much rarer and critically endangered northern white rhino.

Sudan, who was the equivalent of 90 in human years, was the last surviving male of the rarer variety after the natural death of a second male in late 2014.

The subspecies' population in Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad was largely wiped out during the poaching crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. Poaching was fuelled by demand for rhino horn for use in traditional Chinese medicine, and for dagger handles in Yemen.




The last few dozen wild northern white rhinos in the Democratic Republic of Congo had been killed by the early 2000s.

By 2008, the northern white rhino was considered extinct in the wild, according to WWF, the global environment campaign.

What did Sudan die from?

The elderly rhino was being treated for degenerative changes in his muscles and bones, combined with extensive skin wounds.

Unable to stand up and suffering a great deal in his last 24 hours, Sudan was put down by veterinarians at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Sudan will be remembered for his unusually memorable life. In the 1970s, he escaped extinction of his kind in the wild when he was moved to Dvůr Králové Zoo. Throughout his existence, he significantly contributed to survival of his species as he sired two females.

Is there any prospect the subspecies could survive?

In 2009, the four remaining northern white rhinos, two males and two females, were transferred from the Czech zoo to Ol Pejeta in Kenya.

The hope was that the new environment, reflecting their native habitat, would encourage breeding.


A sculpture of Sudan and his female relatives stands in New York


However, there were no successful pregnancies and Sudan was retired from his role as a potential mate four years ago.

Other attempts to conserve some of the northern white rhino genes by mating 27-year-old Najin and her 17-year-old daughter Fatu with a southern white male also failed.

An account was created for Sudan on the dating app Tinder last year, not to find love, but to help fund the development of IVF for rhinos.

The move won him fans across the world - fans who will now be mourning his death and the northern white rhino's proximity to extinction.

Sudan's genetic material was collected on Monday, conservationists said, to support future attempts to preserve the subspecies.

The plan is to use stored sperm from several northern white rhino males, and eggs from the remaining younger females, and implant the embryo in a surrogate southern white rhino.

Rhino IVF is a radically new procedure and could cost as much as $10m (£7.1m). It still gives conservationists hope that Najin and Fatu will be able to have their own calves one day.


Full Story Here

[Linville]

Good post Ice

I’ve been reading about the magestic elephant and their struggles

They are so smart

[Charon]

just so sad. i had no idea he was on display in NY as one of our statues. so sad.

[Linville]

I heard a radio show host talking about the Rhino
They had to rotecyt it with guns from poachers

Sad and if they catch them killing animals on a conservancy
maybe hanging in a public squaregor thrm
Yes tough
But now the last male is dead as I understand it

[Charon]

they have sperm stored away. frozen. and a few young females but i read it quickly. i believe they r hoping to allow the sperm to impregnate the young females left alive if and when possible.

and nothing ever happened to that rat bastard whom killed horrifically poor cecil i believe his name was. The lion. on a preserve. and he left him to suffer for hours till he returned to kill him. Public uproar and then it all died down.

Yes, people are dying now. The world gets more insane. But as so many have posted, one can judge a people by how they treated their animals.

It would seem the gvts have no concern for the animals to be preserved. It is their version of us, those on disability whom are deemed useless eaters, as Ms. Cricket would say.

This world grows more foreign and undesirable to me daily. But for those i mite be able to help. first. But its a sad and difficult journey most of us found ourselves on.

So sad.

[Linville]

A picture of Sudan .

.

[G.Elias]

Very sad reading about this,another animal facing extinction unless the ivf type thing works in the future.
All those animals hunted,poached into extinction by man just for a few moments of hunting pleasure,wonder how many rhinos were around before white men colonised Africa?

What did happen to the jerk who killed the lion Cecil?Was quite big news around the world when it happened but as usual its all gone quiet about it now,i hope the rich white killer gets put in a zoo cage for rest of his life,maybe a cage of hungry lions would be fitting for the killer?A taste of their own medicine so to speak.

[Blockhead59]

Reading this and Charon's article about Cecil, the lion, has literally given me a stomach ache. So sad. To think that we humans led to the extinction of Sudan and other rhinos bc of our to our misdeeds and greed is a tragedy. I can understand if some tiny-mini-micro bug (?), we don't even know about, becomes extinct due to its own natural devices, but even that is part of the ecosystem. The caretakers of these animals are so connected with them, and treat them almost like relatives. It's beautiful.

My daughter went to Thailand and spent time at an elephant sanctuary. She and her bf were told that most of the Americans (and other Westeners) who visit the elephants want to go to the sanctuary, where the elephants are treated humanely and interact with the elephants. Others from other nations want to visit the place where the elephants do tricks. No offense to anyone, just repeating what I was told.

I also have not seen the rhino in NY. Does anyone know where it is?

[IceWizard]

Check this out...

Here’s everything you need to know about that massive rhino statue at Astor Place

Reading this and Charon's article about Cecil, the lion, has literally given me a stomach ache. So sad. To think that we humans led to the extinction of Sudan and other rhinos bc of our to our misdeeds and greed is a tragedy. I can understand if some tiny-mini-micro bug (?), we don't even know about, becomes extinct due to its own natural devices, but even that is part of the ecosystem. The caretakers of these animals are so connected with them, and treat them almost like relatives. It's beautiful.

My daughter went to Thailand and spent time at an elephant sanctuary. She and her bf were told that most of the Americans (and other Westeners) who visit the elephants want to go to the sanctuary, where the elephants are treated humanely and interact with the elephants. Others from other nations want to visit the place where the elephants do tricks. No offense to anyone, just repeating what I was told.

I also have not seen the rhino in NY. Does anyone know where it is?

[Charon]

*Ice rules*