An Italian laboratory will try to save the Kenyan white rhino from extinction. The last two females of the species live in the reserve of Ol Pejeta in the Rift Valley, a group of veterinary researchers managed last week to collect the oocytes of the two females that in 2009 had been transported to Kenya from a zoo in the Czech Republic, to mate with the last two specimens of northern white rhinoceros, Sudan, which being already old after some attempts at mating had failed to fertilize them successfully.
In any case, the frozen sperm of the male had been frozen and will now be fertilized thanks to an Italian research institute, Avantea of Cremona.
"The operation completed means that producing a northern white rhino embryo in vitro, which has never been done before, is for the first time a tangible objective," said Professor Cesare Galli of the institute that is leading the development of assisted reproduction techniques used to save the northern white rhino.
If all goes according to plan, the baby will give birth to a female of southern white rhinoceros, subspecies cousin of the northern one, estimating that the puppy of hope could see the light within 3-5 years.