Two embryos created against extinction white rhino

The international consortium of scientists and conservationists working to prevent the extinction of the northern white rhino through advanced assisted reproductive technologies announced that two new embryos were produced in December 2020.

The University of Padua is part of the research team.

On 13 December, the team from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Safari Park Dvůr Králové, Kenya Wildlife Service and Ol Pejeta Conservancy successfully carried out egg retrieval in Kenya.

Immediately after the collection, the oocytes were transported across the continents to the laboratory of Avantea in Cremona (Italy) directed by Cesare Galli where, after maturation and their fertilization with semen, embryos were created.

On Christmas Eve, the embryos obtained were cryopreserved after reaching the blastocyst stage suitable for freezing, thus bringing the total number of embryos produced to date to five.

This feeds hope that, despite the challenges and delays caused by Covid 19, the Northern White Rhino can still be saved.

The next steps of the project are already underway.

The two females Najin and Fatu kept at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya are the only remaining northern white rhinos in the world.

To prevent their extinction, an international consortium of scientists and conservationists takes oocytes (immature egg cells) from the two females and artificially fertilizes them using cryopreserved sperm from deceased males to create viable embryos.

Subsequently, the embryos will be transferred to surrogate mothers of southern white rhino to give birth to new specimens of northern white rhino.

(HANDLE).