Scientists have successfully performed the world’s first IVF rhino procedure, placing a lab-made embryo into a surrogate mother.
The breakthrough may pave the way to save the northern white rhino from extinction.
The IVF treatment was performed with southern white rhinos, a subspecies closely related to the northern white rhino, of which there are only two individuals left on the planet.
While the IVF pregnancy was performed with a different subspecies, scientists are confident that they will be able to recreate the results with northern white rhinos.
Only Two Northern White Rhinos Left
Northern white rhinos once roamed central Africa, however, their numbers have dwindled over the years due to illegal poaching.
Today, only two of these animals, Najin and her offspring Fatu, both of which are female.
The pair currently live at a nature preserve in Kenya, where they are protected 24/7 by armed guards.
As they are both females, reproduction is impossible.
However, scientists who are part of the Biorescue Project, an international consortium whose mission is to save the species, are now working to save the animals from extinction with advanced fertility technology.
They began their work by transferring embryos into southern white rhinos, the closest cousins of the northern whites.
The project has proved to be difficult, from collecting the eggs from the large animals to implanting the lab-created embryos.
In total, it took the Biorescue team 13 tries before they achieved a viable IVF pregnancy.
The embryo, which was created with sperm from a male in Austria and an egg from a female rhino in Belgium, was carefully placed inside the reproductive tract of a surrogate female.
She successfully became pregnant; however, tragedy soon followed.
More than two months into the pregnancy, the female died due to an infection caused by a deadly bacterium found in the soil.
A post-mortem examination revealed that the male fetus had been developing well and had a 95 percent chance of being born alive.
While her death was a devastating blow to the team, it showed that the fertility technique worked.
The next step is to re-attempt the procedure, this time with northern white rhino embryos.
Scientists had collected sperm from two male northern white rhinos before they died and used them to create 30 embryos with eggs from Fatu.
The embryos are currently being stored in liquid nitrogen in Italy and Germany.
Due to health issues, however, neither of the remaining northern whites can carry a pregnancy. This means the embryo will have to be implanted into a surrogate southern white rhino, adding another layer of complexity to the procedure.
