• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

World’s First IVF Rhino Pregnancy Is Big Step To Saving Species On Brink Of Extinction

January 25, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

A huge breakthrough for endangered rhino species in Africa has been achieved through the world’s first in-vitro fertilization (IVF) rhino pregnancy. A team has successfully implanted a lab-created rhino embryo into a surrogate rhino mother for the first time, resulting in pregnancy. This could be a big step towards saving the northern white rhino, a species on the very brink of extinction.

Producing a southern white rhino embryo via IVF is a test run for the northern white rhinos in the future. The egg came from a female southern white rhino at a zoo in Belgium and was fertilized with sperm from a male in Austria. The fetus was then implanted in a southern white rhino surrogate female in Kenya. This was the 13th attempt to achieve a viable pregnancy. 

Advertisement

“To achieve the first successful embryo transfer in a rhino is a huge step,” Dr Susanne Holtze, a scientist at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Germany, which is part of the Biorescue Consortium, an international consortium trying to save this species, told BBC News.

The fates of the two of Africa’s rhino species are closely intertwined. The northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) has just two living individuals left in the world, a mother and daughter named Najin and Fatu. Unable to reproduce, the species is essentially extinct. Scientists have been harvesting eggs from Fatu for some time, creating a stock of eggs that could one day save the species. Sperm from the last living male rhino, Sudan, has been frozen since before he died in 2018 and has been combined with Fatu’s eggs to create 30 precious embryos for this very reason.

The southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) is considered much more of a success story. Previously hunted to tiny population numbers, conservation efforts have seen the population rebound to around 20,000 in the wild even though they are still heavily threatened by poaching. This is where the southern white rhinos come in to help their closely related kin. 

“I think the situation for the northern white rhino is quite privileged for the embryo transfer because we have a closely related recipient – so their internal map is nearly the same,” said Professor Thomas Hildebrandt, the director of Leibniz IZW, to the BBC.

Advertisement

The team successfully implanted the southern white rhino embryo into a southern white rhino mother creating the world-first IVF rhino pregnancy. However such major success was followed by tragedy as the pregnant female died from an infection of Clostridia bacteria just 70 days into the pregnancy. 

A post-mortem of the mother and the fetus, which was found to be male, showed that it was 6.5 centimeters long and the team believed it had a 95 percent chance of being born alive. 

While this is a devastating blow, the success of the pregnancy proves that the technique to impregnate a rhino via IVF is possible. This is a huge step because to create a northern white rhino calf, the team will have to use a southern white rhino as a surrogate since neither of the last two living females can carry a pregnancy. 

Advertisement

“[W]ith this achievement, we are very confident that we will be able to create northern white rhinos in the same manner and that we will be able to save the species,” said Holtze. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Tennis-Scrappy Sakkari survives gruelling three-setter to beat Andreescu
  2. Cricket-NZ players reach Dubai after ‘specific, credible threat’ derailed Pakistan tour
  3. Vatican trial prosecutors concede case gaps, willing to investigate more
  4. The Scottish Mummy That Turned Out To Be Made Of Three People

Source Link: World’s First IVF Rhino Pregnancy Is Big Step To Saving Species On Brink Of Extinction

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • “Every Species On The Planet Self-Medicates In Some Way”: How Wild Animals Use Medicine
  • Deepest Complex Ecosystem Ever Discovered 10 Kilometers Below The Sea, 892-Kilometer “Megaflash” Lightning Sets New World Record, And Much More This Week
  • The Life And Death Of David Vetter, The Boy Who Lived His Whole Life In A Bubble
  • Time’s Arrow Within Glass Appears To Go Both Ways, Raising Huge Questions
  • World’s “Oldest Baby” Born From Embryo Frozen In 1994 In New World Record
  • What Can Spain’s “Tunnel Of Bones” Tell Us About The Fate Of Human Species On The Brink Of Extinction?
  • Rhino Horns Go Radioactive As Anti-Poaching Project Gets Off The Ground
  • Manta Rays Officially Get Third New Species – 15 Years After First Suspected
  • “Space Hurricanes” Are Happening At Earth’s Poles – And They Can Affect GPS Signals
  • There Is A Crucial Reason Why We Will Never See The Big Bang Directly With Our Telescopes
  • How Does An MRI Machine Work?
  • Catch A Glimpse Of One Of The World’s Rarest Sharks In Dreamy New Footage
  • A One-Shot Vaccine For HIV Might Actually Be On The Cards
  • Chikungunya Virus Is Spreading In China: As CDC Considers Travel Advisory, Here’s What To Know
  • First-Of-Its-Kind Vagus Nerve Implant Gets FDA Approval As A Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • First Time Crystal Made Of “Exotic” Giant Atoms 1,000 times Larger Than Hydrogen
  • Prehistoric Humans Began Eating Tubers 700,000 Years Before Our Teeth Evolved To Do So
  • The World’s Oldest Wild Bird “Surprised” Everyone With A Hatched Chick At 74
  • “Spectacular” New Species Of 40cm Giant Stick Insect May Be Australia’s New Heaviest Insect
  • What Is “Nobel Disease”, And Why Do So Many Prizewinners Go On To Develop It?
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version