World's First IVF Rhino Pregnancy Could Save Nearly Extinct Species
There are only two female northern white rhinos left on the planet and both are unable to give birth. Now, a scientific breakthrough has sparked hope for the survival of the rhino subspecies.
Najin the northern white rhino at Ol Pejeta Conservancy. (Image credit: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Safari Park Dvůr Králové, Kenya Wildlife Service, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Avantea, University of Padova and Rio the photographer.)
Scientists have successfully transferred a lab-created white rhinoceros embryo into a surrogate mother in a world first, conservationists announced on Wednesday. The historic breakthrough has renewed hope for saving the critically endangered northern white rhino subspecies from extinction.
To test the method, the procedure was conducted with southern white rhinos, a closely related sub-species of northern white rhinos. Scientists transferred the embryo of a southern white rhino into a surrogate mother of that subspecies at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya in September 2023.
Tragically, the father and the surrogate mother carrying the pregnancy died due to an unrelated bacterial infection in November 2023. The post-mortem examination revealed the 70-day-old fetus, providing evidence that the IVF was successful.
"To achieve the first successful embryo transfer in a rhino is a huge step," said Susanne Holtze, a scientist at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany, which is part of the Biorescue project, an international consortium trying to save this species. "But now I think with this achievement, we are very confident that we will be able to create northern white rhinos in the same manner and that we will be able to save the species."
Justin Heath, the CEO of Ol Pejeta Conservancy, said that it was a huge step forward for the species, but bittersweet after losing the surrogate and bull to the bacterial infection.
“To have had the world’s first pregnancy in a rhino after a successful surrogate transfer on Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a point of great pride for us all,” he said. “We look forward to welcoming future surrogates’ rhino calves under the foothills of Mount Kenya very soon.”
Two Remaining on the Planet
The northern white rhino and the southern white rhino are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as subspecies of the white rhino. It is estimated that roughly 20,000 southern white rhinos remain in Africa.
Northern white rhinos were once found across central Africa; however, the illegal poaching driven by the demand for rhino horn led to the eradication of the species in the wild.
Meanwhile, only two southern white rhinos - Najin and her daughter Fatu - are left on the planet and neither of them can carry pregnancies to term. They currently live at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya under 24-hour protection. The last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018.
After Sudan’s death, efforts to save the species were renewed. Scientists successfully used semen from Sudan and four other deceased northern white rhinos, along with eggs harvested from female northern white rhinos, to create embryos.
Currently, there are 30 embryos from the northern white rhinos, which can potentially be carried by southern white rhino surrogate mothers. This will be another scientific first as IVF across a sub-species has never been tried before - but scientists are optimistic.
"I think the situation for the northern white rhino is quite privileged for the embryo transfer because we have a closely related recipient - so their internal map is nearly the same," said Professor Thomas Hildebrandt, the director of Liebniz IZW and project head for the Biorescue Consortium.
According to Hildebrandt, the Biorescue team aims to implant the embryos in the upcoming months, to have the calf born while northern white rhinos are still alive as a way of preserving the social communication and heritage of the northern white rhino.
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