With only three living individuals left on this planet, the northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) could be considered doomed for extinction. It might still be possible, however, to rescue the (sub)species by combining novel stem cell and assisted reproductive technologies.
Poaching has slashed the rhinos' numbers from around 2,300 in the 1960s. For the remaining three animals, natural reproduction is not an option. Sudan, a 42-year-old male, has a low sperm count; his 26-year-old daughter Najin has leg injuries that mean she cannot bear the weight either of a mounting male or of pregnancy; and her daughter Fatu has a uterine disorder that would prevent an embryo from implanting. But sperm and other cells from another ten individuals are in frozen storage.
http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cell-plan-aims-to-bring-rhino-back-from-brink-of-extinction-1.19849
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/zoo.21284/abstract
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Northern white rhino: New hopes for IVF rescue
A new study raises hopes of saving one of the last animals of its kind. A victim of poaching, the northern white rhino population has been reduced to just two females, which are both unable to breed.
DNA evidence shows the rhino is more closely related than previously thought to its southern white cousin. Creating rhino hybrids using IVF is likely to have a positive outcome, say scientists, although this option is considered a last resort.
The white rhino split into two divided populations living in the north and south of Africa around one million years ago. But an extensive analysis of DNA from living rhinos and museum specimens shows the northern and southern populations mixed and bred at times after this date, perhaps as recently as 14,000 years ago.
[...] In July, one team took eggs from female southern rhinos - which number around 20,000 in the wild - and fertilised them with frozen sperm from a male northern white rhino, to create hybrid embryos.
The new study suggests this sort of approach might pay off, given that the two rhinos are closer genetically than once thought. "We think it improves the chances," said Prof Bruford. "It is difficult to predict what might happen if we cross the two subspecies but given the current options for the northern white rhino it becomes a more viable option, should other approaches fail."
Other options include using frozen tissue from a wider pool of northern white rhinos to generate stem cells that have the capacity to develop into eggs and sperm. This would avoid diluting the gene pool, but is more challenging to achieve.
Previously: Saving the Northern White Rhinoceros with Science
Last Male Northern White Rhino 'Sudan' Falls Ill as Species Edges Closer to Extinction
Last Male Northern White Rhino Dies
Genetic Intervention Could Save the Northern White Rhino From Extinction
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gravis on Saturday May 07 2016, @03:46PM
three animals aren't enough to create a diverse enough genetic makeup to be a viable species. hopefully, enough genetic sample have been taken and sequenced (even from the bones of dead ones) that we can later repopulate these animals. we don't have the resources to ensure their lives right now, so we'll just have to keep them on file. when we get this world sorted out a bit more, they'll have to be birthed and raised by another breed but it'll be enough to bring them back from extinction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @06:01PM
three animals aren't enough to create a diverse enough genetic makeup to be a viable species.
You say that based on what? Are you a White Rhino expert?
They do not need every single rhino to be able to mate with every other rhino, they could for instance check the genetics and match those likely to produce good offspring. After a few generations they wouldn't even need to verify the compatibility. That's assuming the initial population isn't filled with every disorder imaginable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @07:26PM
based on what?
Is Hemophilia in European royal families a good enough example for you?
The genetic diversity in the current cheetah population is rather crappy after a bottleneck event [nih.gov] at the end of the last ice age.
.
ISTM, zoos are an answer here.
Identify a rhino species that isn't as endangered and for which captive females exist.
Implant embryos and see what happens.
Pretty sure the experts have thought of this.
There's been considerable sci-fi-level speculation that, if they ever get genetic sequencing/manipulation good enough, they could take the DNA from those embedded-in-ice individuals they spot from time to time and implant a mastodon|mammoth embryo into an extant elephant female and get a living fossil.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2016, @12:49AM
three animals aren't enough to create a diverse enough genetic makeup to be a viable species
It will depend on how outbred the existing individuals and the frozen donor cells are.
From TFA:
sperm and other cells from another ten individuals are in frozen storage [that could be used to fertilize] egg cells from Fatu and Najin [...] and implanted into a surrogate mother
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2016, @07:48AM
The northern white rhino is gone, but here is how to save the other species: genetically engineer the rhino horn to be fatally toxic to humans. That should eliminate the demand for medical uses of rhino horn in Vietnam and China, which drives the poaching.
There has already been an attempt to inject poison into rhino horns and that was deemed a failure:
https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/poisoning_rhino_horns [savetherhino.org]
Southern white rhino just listed as endangered:
http://www.seeker.com/white-rhino-joining-endangered-species-list-1767825089.html [seeker.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2016, @11:30PM
Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same stuff as e.g. human fingernails.
Synthesize the stuff, form it into the proper shape, flood the market with fakes, and drive the price to ~zero.
Hmmm. Some folks have already thought of that.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]