[Animals] There are two northern white rhinos left on Earth (and the way to solve it comes with controversy)

[FNX Magokiler]

A global consortium of scientists fighting to save the northern white rhino, which is exactly two females away from extinction, now has the help of the American biotechnology company Colossal, known for trying to resurrect extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger.

But it has not been an easy task. Thomas Hildebrandt, director of the BioRescue consortium and expert in wildlife reproduction at the Leibniz-Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin (Germany), acknowledges that he was initially reluctant to work with Colossal.

"I don't like the idea of recreating mammoths and calling it a conservation project," he says. However, he has realized that the tools developed by Colossal could be instrumental in recovering a healthy po[CENSORED]tion of northern white rhinos.

"We want to save a key species, which played a very crucial role in a complex ecosystem in Central Africa," says Hildebrandt. "There is still time to bring back the rhinos, and we firmly hope to achieve the first reintroduction of the northern white rhino in 10 to 20 years."

Colossal founder and CEO Ben Lamm says the company's involvement illustrates how its $225 million investment in "de-extinction" can also boost the conservation of living species before they disappear. .

 

 

"Most conservation focuses on preserving the land, stopping poaching..., but when it gets to the point where there are only two females left, you have to turn to more advanced technologies," says Lamm.

He is confident that his "de-extinction toolkit can be used by conservation groups and governments around the world to save species."

(Related: What is the future of the northern white rhino after the death of the last male?)

Looking for last minute solutions
White rhinos, native to sub-Saharan Africa, are divided into two subspecies: the southern and the northern.

Poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which are then sold on the black market for traditional medicine and carvings, decimating rhino po[CENSORED]tions. By the end of the 19th century, only about 20 southern white rhinos remained. A century later, conservation efforts have raised their numbers to about 16,000 rhinos in eastern and southern Africa. The northern white rhino, however, became extinct in the wild in 2008, leaving only a handful of survivors in zoos.

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.es/animales/2023/09/rinocerontes-blancos-del-norte-quedan-dos-como-salvarlos