One More Pure Northern White Rhino Embryo Created

In August of 2019, we told you about the groundbreaking procedure which was carried out on the last two northern white rhinos, Najin and her daughter Fatu. The outcome of the procedure was that we produced two in-vitro pure northern white rhino embryos. This gave us real hope for the future of the species. 

Today we are thrilled to announce that, a little before Christmas, the same team of scientists and conservationists created one more northern white rhino embryo. This means we now have a total of three embryos stored in liquid nitrogen to be transferred into a surrogate mother in the near future.

This milestone was achieved with great support from the Kenyan Government and in the presence of Hon Najib Balala – Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife.

Hon. Najib Balala, Cabinet Secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, said: “As a government, we are glad that the northern white rhino in-vitro fertilization project by a consortium of scientists and conservationists from Kenya, Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy collaborative partnership has been able to successfully produce three pure northern white rhino embryos ready for implantation into southern white rhino as surrogate mothers in coming months. This is a big win for Kenya and its partners, as the northern white rhinos are faced with the threat of imminent extinction, where only two of them, females Najin and Fatu, are left in the whole world and are currently hosted by Kenya. It’s a delicate process, and for that, we thank the concerned parties, the Kenya Wildlife Service, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Avantea Laboratory and Dvůr Králové Zoo, for putting in all of their efforts in ensuring that the critically endangered species do not disappear from the planet under our watch. I urge the scientists to continue digging deeper into technology and innovations to ensure that not only this concerned species does not go extinct, but other species that are faced with similar threats. The fact that Kenya is at the centre of this scientific breakthrough also makes me very proud. It’s amazing to see that we will be able to reverse the tragic loss of this subspecies through science.”