Sudan, the last male northern white rhino has left us. At 45, due to age and poor health, the animal died at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himSudan, the last male northern white rhino has left us. At 45, due to age and poor health, the animal died at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.
Now there are only two females in the world, the daughter and granddaughter Najin and Fatu, who remain in Ol Pejeta. After two months of suffering, the rhino died on March 19.
Rhinos - of which there are five species - are the second largest land mammal after elephants. The white rhino consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhino, with around 20.000 inhabitants in the wild, and the much rarer and endangered northern white rhino.
Sudan was a very rare creature. To defend him were many, rangers and volunteers. At roughly 90 human years old, he was the last surviving male of the rarer variety, following the natural death of a second male in late 2014.
The northern white rhino lived in Uganda, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad but was largely wiped out during the poaching crisis of the 70s and 80s. Poaching, as we know, fueled by the demand for rhino horn both for use in traditional Chinese medicine in Asia and for jewelry and objects of various kinds.
“There has been a dramatic spike in rhino poaching over the past decade, driven by consumer demand in China and Vietnam. Since 2013, South Africa has lost more than 1.000 rhinos every year to poachers, ”explains WildAid.
“We on Ol Pejeta are all saddened by Sudan’s death. He was a great ambassador for his species and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally of the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction
— Ol Pejeta (@OlPejeta) March 20, 2018
Sudan has been a true global ambassador of rhinos appearing in documentaries for reducing the demand for horn.
The only hope for the conservation of this subspecies now lies in the development of in vitro fertilization techniques using the ova of the two remaining females and specimens of northern white rhino semen preserved from deceased males.
Already last year a campaign was launched on Tinder to help finance in vitro fertilization as the cost is around 9 million dollars.
Today the only thought goes to Sudan, a real symbol of the fight against poaching.
READ also:
- The rangers who protect the last northern white rhino in the world
- Nearly extinct white rhinos: there are only 6 in the world
Francesca Mancuso
