Northern White Rhino: Doomed?
Hello everybody!
This is Alexis (I need to clarify because everyone is posting off of my account).
FYI, this is my first article so don't judge.
On March 19, 2018, Sudan, the last northern white rhino, died, leaving only his daughter, Najin, and his granddaughter, Fatu, to save the subspecies from extinction. Sudan was 45 when he was euthanized after having "age related problems." Before he died, however, he had a happy life. He had a mate, Nasima, three calves, one of them Najin, as mentioned earlier, Nabire, who died in July 2015, and one premature calf who died during birth. After the breeding age had passed, he was infertile and breeding attempts failed. He couldn't breed with the last two remaining rhinos anyway, because they had breeding ailments.
Shortly before his death, Sudan was discovered to have an infection in his hind right leg. This had happened previously at the end of 2017, but this time his problem seriously hurt him and the scientists had to put him out of his misery.
Although there are lots of southern white rhinos left in the world (the difference from southern and northern white rhinos is geography and small DNA changes), it seems inevitable that the northern white rhino will die out.
Right?
That's not what scientists say. They could still breed Najin and Fatu with southern white rhinos, or with black rhinos (black rhino + white rhino = grey rhino??). Or there might still be some northern male white rhinos left in the wild (though probably not). Suddenly everyone is desperate to save the rhinos (or commonly known as "chubby unicorns" as new trend develops). Maybe this can serve as a wake-up call. Rhinos, and more than 10,000 other endangered species, need your help! There are only 58 Joplin rhinos left in the world!
Yours,
Alexis
Sources: Wikipedia
This is Alexis (I need to clarify because everyone is posting off of my account).
FYI, this is my first article so don't judge.
On March 19, 2018, Sudan, the last northern white rhino, died, leaving only his daughter, Najin, and his granddaughter, Fatu, to save the subspecies from extinction. Sudan was 45 when he was euthanized after having "age related problems." Before he died, however, he had a happy life. He had a mate, Nasima, three calves, one of them Najin, as mentioned earlier, Nabire, who died in July 2015, and one premature calf who died during birth. After the breeding age had passed, he was infertile and breeding attempts failed. He couldn't breed with the last two remaining rhinos anyway, because they had breeding ailments.
Shortly before his death, Sudan was discovered to have an infection in his hind right leg. This had happened previously at the end of 2017, but this time his problem seriously hurt him and the scientists had to put him out of his misery.
Although there are lots of southern white rhinos left in the world (the difference from southern and northern white rhinos is geography and small DNA changes), it seems inevitable that the northern white rhino will die out.
Right?
That's not what scientists say. They could still breed Najin and Fatu with southern white rhinos, or with black rhinos (black rhino + white rhino = grey rhino??). Or there might still be some northern male white rhinos left in the wild (though probably not). Suddenly everyone is desperate to save the rhinos (or commonly known as "chubby unicorns" as new trend develops). Maybe this can serve as a wake-up call. Rhinos, and more than 10,000 other endangered species, need your help! There are only 58 Joplin rhinos left in the world!
Alexis
Sources: Wikipedia
