There are only two living northern white rhinos left in the world. The hyper endangered creature is effectively extinct, but now researchers say they’ve done the impossible and it could allow the species to live on.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 This is one of only two northern white rhinos left
00:07 in the world.
00:07 The hyper-endangered creature is effectively extinct.
00:11 But now researchers say they've done the impossible,
00:13 and it could allow the species to live on.
00:15 Researchers with BioRescue have just
00:17 announced that an in vitro produced
00:19 northern white rhino embryo was successfully
00:21 transferred into a southern white rhino surrogate mother.
00:24 And that pregnancy is going well,
00:26 and it's developing normally.
00:28 This is Thomas Hildebrandt.
00:29 Head of reproduction at the Leibniz Institute
00:32 for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
00:33 We achieved together, and that's really important.
00:37 Not my person, not another person.
00:39 We achieved together something which
00:41 was not believed to be possible.
00:44 We really made the impossible possible.
00:46 And today we can report that.
00:50 And that is really a milestone to allow
00:53 us to produce northern white rhino calves in the next two,
00:57 two and a half years.
00:58 The last male northern white rhino on Earth
01:00 died back in 2018, and the two remaining females
01:03 can no longer carry children, painting
01:05 a grim future for the species.
01:07 However, through conservation measures
01:08 and in vitro fertilization, they hope
01:10 this will be able to bring the species back from the brink.
01:13 Northern white rhinos have long been
01:14 hunted by poachers for their horns,
01:16 decimating their population.
01:18 They are considered the world's most endangered mammal.
01:22 (upbeat music)
01:25 (upbeat music)