The world's last white rhino is too old to have children

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The days of the existence of the northern white rhino population can be said to be numbered. There are only three individuals left in the world, and a rhinoceros named Sudan is the only remaining male. However, alas, Sudan is already so old that it cannot provide for the emergence of small rhinos naturally. The chances that a whole species of animals will die with his death are very high.

More recently, a Twitter post with a photo of a hornless rhino has circulated. The post was written by Daniel Schneider, a biologist based in Boston. Under the photo he left the caption "Want to know what the extinction of animals looks like? Here's the last male northern white rhinoceros in the world. The last one. Will not be again."

This post has been shared by over 36,000 users, and over a thousand have left their comments under the original post. So the story about Sudan - the last male in its kind - received a new round of development. This is not the first time that biologists have sounded the alarm, trying to save an endangered species of animals: just a year ago, an unprecedented action was taken, specifically aimed at helping to breed northern white rhinos. Then a photo of Sudan was placed as an advertisement on the famous Tinder application - a mobile analogue of a dating site.

On Tinder, users saw a photo of a sad rhino, which, according to the caption, was desperately looking for a mate. “I don’t want to put pressure on you, but the fate of the whole species really depends entirely on me” - was written in the text on Tinder under the photograph of Sudan. If users marked the photo as they liked, they were invited to donate any amount to help the Sudan rhinoceros not become the last in its kind. Thus, the Ol Padjeta Sanctuary, which contains all three remaining white rhinos, hopes to raise the $ 9 million needed for the potential breeding of these animals. This money will go towards the preservation of Sudan's semen and in-vitro fertilization of the remaining females. And also in order, in fact, to raise babies and continue the race.

The idea with Tinder belongs to the Ol Paget organization in Kenya. Its leader, Richard Vigne, says they chose this solution after realizing that all their attempts to breed rhinos naturally were unsuccessful. Sudan is now 43 years old and will turn 44 on November 19th. For rhinos, this is already a very old age. “We are optimistic and hope that the profile of Sudan, which will be seen in 190 countries and in more than 40 languages, will draw public attention to the problem and the reserve will be able to raise the necessary funds,” said Tinder, head of marketing.

In the wild, white rhinos are long gone - they were all exterminated by poachers for the sake of horns, which are expensive on the black market. Sudan was born in the country of Sudan, in fact, that's why he got this name, and then he was sent to the Czech zoo, where he spent most of his life. After the second of the remaining male rhinoceros died in America, the question of breeding this animal arose sharply. Zoos are not engaged in breeding, and nature reserves and sanctuaries did not want to take on such responsibility, including because of the serious danger: poaching is widespread throughout Africa - this is the climate of this continent that is ideal for Sudan - and therefore the maintenance and protection of the rhino would be too expensive for any organization.

The Ol Padjeta Sanctuary in Kenya has claimed responsibility. They hosted all three remaining white rhinos and put 24-hour security on Sudan. To reduce the risks of poaching, the horn was deliberately removed in Sudan, which is of value to the black market. Armed guards follow Sudan throughout the reserve, and during this time have become attached to the animal. "He's not aggressive or dangerous at all," says one of the guards. "He loves to be scratched at his belly and behind his ear."

"The current situation with white rhinos is a manifestation of how human activities affect the nature around us," says the head of the reserve. how important the world around them is for people, how much they understand how everything in this world is interconnected."

Representatives of the black rhino also suffer from the hands of poachers. So, we talked about a baby rhinoceros, whose mother was shot for her horn, and the volunteers had to spend the night with a cubto help you no longer be afraid.