Bringing the white rhino back to life –
there are two still alive but unable to reproduce – is tempting but if
humans cannot save a species in nature, what future for animals can we
manufacture?
Tuesday 10 April 2018 17:12 BST
A geriatric semi-captive rhino died in Kenya recently.
“Sudan”, a 45-year-old northern white rhino was put to sleep as vets decided,
after months of ill health, that his condition had deteriorated to the point
where the levels of pain and quality of life were unacceptable.
From a conservation perspective, this does
not sound like a big deal. Sudan was one old rhino. He was well past breeding
age. So why did his death make headlines?
Sudan was the last surviving male northern
white rhinoceros, a subspecies known to scientists as Ceratotherium simum cottonithat went extinct in the wild about 20
years ago thanks to poaching. He was captured and removed from the wild in
1975, the last wild-caught northern white rhino. Sudan’s daughter Najin, and
granddaughter Fatu, are now the only two left, and they are both old and
incapable of reproduction even if they had a mate.
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