![]() In 2013, one of the males, Suni, died suddenly from a heart attack. Under the watchful protection of 24/7 armed guards, the animals did mate, but the females did not become pregnant. Some conservationists believed that the rhinos might be more likely to breed in their natural environment. In 2009, the last four breeding northern white rhinos-two females and two males-were flown from the Dvůr Králové Zoo in Czechia to a new home at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a nonprofit at the foot of Mount Kenya. ![]() (Read more about efforts to protect rhinos from poaching.) The northern white rhino, however, became extinct in the wild in 2008, leaving only a handful of survivors in zoos. A century later, conservation efforts have boosted their numbers to about 16,000 rhinos in eastern and southern Africa. By the late 1800s, only about 20 southern white rhinos were left. Poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which are then sold on the black market for traditional medicine and carvings, decimating the animals’ populations. White rhinos, native to sub-Saharan Africa, are divided into two subspecies-southern and northern. He’s hopeful that their “whole de-extinction toolkit can be used by conservation groups and governments all around the world to save species.” The 11 th hour “The vast majority of conservation is focused on preserving land, stopping poaching.… but when you get down to the point that you’ve only got two females, you have to do more advanced technologies,” Lamm says. (Read about the controversial quest to bring back the Tasmanian tiger.) “We still have time to bring the rhinos back, and we strongly hope to achieve the first reintroduction of the northern white rhino in 10 to 20 years.”Ĭolossal founder and CEO Ben Lamm says the company’s involvement illustrates how its $225 million dollar investment in “de-extinction” can also boost conservation of living species before they vanish. “We want to save a keystone species, which played a very crucial role in a complex ecosystem in Central Africa,” Hildebrandt says.
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