Bringing endangered species back from the brink

March 26, 2019, University of Oxford

A technique to produce eggs from ovarian tissue in the lab may offer hope for critically endangered species like the Northern White Rhino that have passed what is currently considered the point of no return.

A research team at the University of Oxford has begun work to find a new way of saving the Northern White Rhino by using tissue taken from animal ovaries to produce potentially large numbers of eggs in a laboratory setting.

Led by Dr. Suzannah Williams, researchers working on the Rhino Fertility Project will refine the method that she has successfully demonstrated in mice. Rhino tissue is scarce and precious—however, ovarian tissue has been obtained by Dr. Williams from a euthanased Southern White Rhino which provides the foundation for the work.

The research is being funded by Mr André Hoffmann, via Fondation Hoffmann.

The desperate plight of the Northern White Rhino has highlighted the precarious situation of many endangered species around the world. Previous breeding programmes had been successful in raising their numbers but the animals were destroyed by poachers. The world's last remaining male died in 2018 leaving just two female rhinos, Najin and her daughter Fatu, neither of which are capable of producing offspring naturally.

Although sperm has been saved by conservationists from male Northern White Rhinos, any successfully fertilised eggs would have to be raised in a surrogate mother – most likely a Southern White Rhino, one of their closest living relatives.

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