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
Related Stories
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
There are three northern white rhinoceroses left. The last male of this subspecies lives in Kenya and is already quite old for his kind of animal. He is ailing now.
But recently, a secondary and much deeper infection was discovered beneath the initial one and Sudan was taking longer to recover, "despite the best efforts of his team of vets who are giving him 24-hour care", the organisation said.
There are two other white rhinos left in the world – a female named Najin and daughter Fatu, both also living at the conservancy in Kenya. Health problems or their ages – around 28 and 17, respectively – have left them unable to reproduce.
Wildlife experts and conservationists expressed deep regret over the prospect of the northern white rhino completely dying out. Technically, the species is already classified as extinct because it no longer exists in the wild, conservationists said.
The last few there and elsewhere have been protected 24/7 by heavily armed guard to try to slow down poaching. However, poaching and the other underlying reasons for the impending extinction are unlikely to be solved within the next few decades.
Sources:
Last male northern white rhino Sudan falls ill as species edges closer to extinction. South China Morning Post
The world's last male northern white rhino is on death watch. CNN
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The world's last surviving male northern white rhino has died after months of poor health, his carers say. Sudan, who was 45, lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. He was put to sleep on Monday after age-related complications worsened significantly. His death leaves only two females - his daughter and granddaughter - of the subspecies alive in the world.
"His death is a cruel symbol of human disregard for nature and it saddened everyone who knew him," said Jan Stejskal, an official at Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, where Sudan had lived until 2009. "But we should not give up," he added in quotes carried by AFP news agency. "We must take advantage of the unique situation in which cellular technologies are utilised for conservation of critically endangered species. It may sound unbelievable, but thanks to the newly developed techniques even Sudan could still have an offspring."
[...] Sudan, who was the equivalent of 90 in human years, was the last surviving male of the rarer variety after the natural death of a second male in late 2014.
[...] Sudan's genetic material was collected on Monday, conservationists said, to support future attempts to preserve the subspecies. The plan is to use stored sperm from several northern white rhino males, and eggs from the remaining younger females, and implant the embryo in a surrogate southern white rhino.
-- submitted from IRC
Scientists Hope Lab-Grown Embryos Can Save Rhino Species From Extinction
Rhino embryos created in a lab are raising hopes that high-tech assisted reproduction may help save the northern white rhino, the most endangered mammal in the world. [...] The last male, a rhino named Sudan, died in March. But before the males died off, wildlife experts collected and froze sperm. Now, in the journal Nature Communications, scientists say they successfully have used this stored sperm [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04959-2] [DX] to fertilize eggs taken from a closely related subspecies, the southern white rhinoceros.
The resulting hybrid embryos started to develop in a lab dish. Two were frozen for later implantation into a surrogate rhino, although the researchers note in their paper that "the embryo transfer procedure has yet to be developed and validated in rhinoceroses." Still, the researchers are hopeful that once they get this working with hybrid embryos, they can use the same techniques to produce pure northern white rhino embryos.
To make those, they'll need eggs from the two remaining northern white rhinos. Jan Stejskal, of the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic — where rhinos Najin and Fatu were born — says the team has requested permission to obtain the eggs, "but it's not granted yet." Still, he hopes the research team can go to Kenya to collect them by the end of the year.
Previously: Last Male Northern White Rhino 'Sudan' Falls Ill as Species Edges Closer to Extinction
Last Male Northern White Rhino Dies
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday November 09 2018, @12:08PM (4 children)
Minimal correction:
As wikipedia says about the southern white rhino
The existing title kinda imples the southern white rhinos are also nearly extinct which is the opposite of the situation.
Also I switched to block quotes instead of parenthesis to avoid the obvious religious issue, I don't think any rhinos are Jewish. Well, there's probably a joke about RINOs in US congress thankfully going extinct, but whatevs.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 09 2018, @12:50PM
not the headline I originally had, but mine had a different mistake
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @02:31PM (1 child)
Just because something is most abundant subspecies does not mean anything other than that there are n+x of them, where x can be from 1 to a lot. They could still be endangered. Too lazy to go to the wikipedia.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 09 2018, @05:00PM
Perhaps, but the general idea is that it's a whole lot more than a population of one.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by martyb on Friday November 09 2018, @04:50PM
I rearranged the title slightly to reduce the ambiguity; it now reads:
I'm not entirely happy with the new title, but am limited to 100 characters. I hope the new wording is clearer.
Do note that the story summary DOES state:
In other words, there are only 2 Northern White Rhinos left, both of which are female and they are also unable to breed.
Not the clearest phrasing, but I take that to mean that there are about 20,000 Southern White Rhinos in the world; they took egg from some (indeterminate number) of those, obviously only from the females.
So, the summary does give populations for Northern (2) and Southern (~20K) White Rhinos from which you can reach your own assessment as to their being nearly extinct or merely threatened.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday November 10 2018, @12:59PM
The next reboot of Jurassic Park may be non-fiction.
While I applaud the idea to save the species, God knows(literally) what possible problems this can cause.
Maybe next time, we can actually do things about conservation efforts before we get down to a point of not having any viable breeders in an animal population.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P