If none the remaining females go in-calf, it is being considered to use the eggs to artificially inseminate the similar Southern White Rhino, which are more common in a last ditch attempt to salvage the Northern species.
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The 31-year-old female Nabire died from a ruptured cyst in a Czech zoo in Dvur Kralove on Monday evening.
The dead rhino’s potentially healthy ovary and other tissue has been taken to an Italian laboratory, where her eggs may be harvested for future in vitro fertilization, the zoo said.
The northern white rhino population was reduced in the wild by poachers who mistakenly believe the keratin in their horns has medicinal value, according to San Diego Zoo Global.
Hunters sell their tusks to countries like China, where some people believe ivory has healing powers.
Out of the only three female northern whites left behind, none are able to carry babies due to uterine conditions or being past the reproductive age. “There was no way to treat it”, said the zoo’s rhino curator in a statement.
In 2009, the Czech zoo moved four rhinos to Kenya hoping that the natural environment there would help them breed but that plan failed.
A northern white rhino died Monday, bringing the total number of the subspecies remaining on earth down to four.
The Dvur Kralove Zoo is persistent.
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“It is our moral obligation to try to save them”. The San Diego Zoo is home to Nola, now the only female surviving outside of Africa. “We are aware that our chances are slim, but the hopes are still alive”, said Rabas. The plight of the few remaining northern white rhinos is well documented.
