Will in vitro fertilization save the northern white rhino?
Will in vitro fertilization save the northern white rhino?
Scientists believe they may have a solution to infertility in critically endangered northern white rhinos.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A scientific breakthrough is good news for a rhinoceros that's endangered.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah, it's the northern white rhino. There are only two left. They live in Kenya. They're alone in the world because humans have poached the species near extinction for their horns.
SUSANNE HOLTZE: The mother is called Najin, and her daughter is Fatu.
FADEL: That's Susanne Holtze. She's a scientist and veterinarian at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin.
HOLTZE: Both of them are of a reasonable age and infertile, and there's no more males left, and still we decided to set out and try to save this subspecies from extinction.
FADEL: Holtze is part of a team of scientists, ethicists and keepers who've been working for a decade on developing in vitro fertilization for rhinos.
MARTÍNEZ: And last year they did it in a closely related subspecies, the southern white rhino.
HOLTZE: We managed to generate the first rhino fetus by embryo transfer in a rhino ever.
FADEL: Tragically, the surrogate died of an infection that was not related to the experiment. But this month, scientists learned from a DNA analysis that she had been pregnant from the IVF treatment. They plan to do it again this year, this time by implanting embryos that have been preserved from the younger northern white rhino, Fatu.
HOLTZE: Hopefully to see a healthy pregnancy and confirm it, and then wait 16 months until the calf is born.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, researchers know they can't build a healthy, diverse population from two individuals, so they're also working on creating embryos with stem cells, which has worked in mice.
FADEL: Holtze says one reason for working so hard for this species is the importance of rhinos to the health of their native savanna.
HOLTZE: If we lose it, we will lose the integrity of this ecosystem. But after this great achievement, I'm very optimistic.
MARTÍNEZ: She points to its relative, the southern white rhino. Once fewer than 100 existed. Now there are about 20,000.
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