It's a Sad Day for the Northern "White" Rhino Population

And by "population" I mean the remaining three.

Nola, one of the last remaining northern white rhinos has been euthanized.
She has been plagued by a myriad of illness and disease.



The above photo is Nola.
She has lived at Safari Park since 1989 when she came from a zoo in what is now the Czech Republic. The public and zookeepers alike loved her.

The white rhino is particularly vulnerable to hunting, because it is a large and relatively unaggressive animal and generally occurs in herds.

Poachers...the damn poachers...

Historically the major factor in the decline of white rhinos was uncontrolled hunting in the colonial era, but now poaching for their horn is the primary threat. The white rhino is particularly vulnerable to hunting, because it is a large and relatively unaggressive animal and generally occurs in herds.

We, humans, are their only predators!

Adult white rhinos have no natural predators (other than humans) due to their size,[26] and even young rhinos are rarely attacked or preyed on due to the mother's presence and their tough skin. One exceptional successful attack was perpetrated by a lion pride on a roughly half-grown white rhinoceros, which weighed 1,055 kg (2,326 lb), and occurred in Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa.

Asian countries believe the horn contains medicinal properties and although there is no scientific proof that this is the case...the poaching has led to the demise of this subspecies of the rhinoceros.

Despite the lack of scientific evidence, the rhino horn is highly prized in traditional Asian medicine, where it is ground into a fine powder or manufactured into tablets to be used as a treatment for a variety of illnesses such as nosebleeds, strokes, convulsions, and fevers. Due to this demand, several highly organized and very profitable international poaching syndicates came into being and would carry out their poaching missions with advanced technologies ranging from night vision scopes, silenced weapons, darting equipment and even helicopters. The ongoing civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and incursions by poachers primarily coming from Sudan have further disrupted efforts to protect the few remaining northern rhinos.[36]

recent research has suggested the northern white rhinoceros may be an altogether different species, rather than a subspecies of white rhinoceros, in which case the correct scientific name for the former is Ceratotherium cottoni. Distinct morphological and genetic differences suggest the two proposed species have been separated for at least a million years

A MILLION YEARS!!! Amazing!

There is hope for this subspecies...
Sudan is the only KNOWN male northern rhino left in the world and he is guarded by armed men 24/7...
CNN

Let's hope his...ummm...libido is up for the task with one of his two female "roommates".

Wikipedia, of course!
Nola LA Times

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I seem to feel way back in our past we befriended a lot more animals than what we see today like dogs and cats.

It's really a shame to see ones that are docile fade away.

When it comes to just predators and then just us.....how's that going to work?

I have had the very happy circumstance to have had a few differing species try to "train" me....or take me under their appendage, it's funny how the perspective changes when you realize how intelligent they are. Of course there understanding is based on there own needes etc, but still an interesting question.

I prefer to think we should think more on communicating with our own, and so better to understand something alien. So far it's predator all the way.

Thanks for posting the sad new I wanted to follow this and you provided the very necessary means, thanks for that!

Cheers to you and yours

a reply to: Treespeaker

Thank you for your reply! I am so glad that someone see the importance of these issues!


I shared this with someone a little while ago and they said, "huh so there's only three?"

Well, yes, there's only three and although it is a subspecies I believe there is a balance in the world that is slowly being eroded. We don't know the impact of these animals, insects, and others on the planet going extinct.

Rhinos are one of the few megaherbivores—plant-eaters that weigh more than 2,000 pounds—that still live in the world. Most others have long gone extinct, many of which were victims to human hunting and expansion. Rhinos' continued existence, however, is questionable. Poachers killed nearly 1,000 rhinos in South Africa alone last year—an almost 50 percent increase from 2012—so as things now stand, rhinos may very likely go the way of so many other species before them.

If the rhinos do disappear from Africa, the authors warn, the savannah will likely become a distinctly different place—in addition to an emptier one.[ex]

The Southern Rhino may not be far behind...
From the Red List

There are only a few left in the wild...

Rhino Resource Center




Smithsonian
WWF

edit on 22-11-2015 by TNMockingbird because: nvm

a reply to: TNMockingbird

the poaching has led to the demise of this subspecies of the rhinoceros. 

I can never find subspecies listed for African Rhinoceros, with the exception of some confirmed interpecies hybridization, which is rare.

a reply to: butcherguy

Yes but then there is a whole subset of hominid that does not see the value in animal flesh.

Cheaper and cool is all that matters.

And this from a Pervayer of meat.

There is value in everything, it is and has traveled a long way to get there same as us.

Respecting what you take(and eat) is a lot of the puzzle.

Cheers

a reply to: butcherguy

While the black rhinoceros has 84 chromosomes (diploid number, 2N, per cell), all other rhinoceros species have 82 chromosomes. However, chromosomal polymorphism might lead to varying chromosome counts. For instance, in a study there were three northern white rhinoceroses with 81 chromosomes.[8]

There are two subspecies of white rhinoceros: the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) and the northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni). As of 2013, the southern subspecies has a wild population of 20,405 – making them the most abundant rhino subspecies in the world. However, the northern subspecies was critically endangered, with as few as four individuals in the wild; the possibility of complete extinction in the wild having been noted since June 2008.[9] Five are known to be held in captivity, one of which resides at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.[10] Four born in a zoo in the Czech Republic were transferred to a wildlife refuge in Kenya in December 2009, in an effort to have the animals reproduce and save the subspecies.[11]

Three families, sometimes grouped together as the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, evolved in the late Eocene, namely the Hyracodontidae, Amynodontidae and Rhinocerotidae.

M'aybe this helps OR maybe I don't understand...?

Wiki-Rhino

And then there were two!

The world's last surviving male northern white rhino has died after months of poor health, his carers say.

Sudan, who was 45, lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. He was put to sleep on Monday after age-related complications worsened significantly.

His death leaves only two females - his daughter and granddaughter - of the subspecies alive in the world.

BBC.com, news, March 20, 2018 - Northern white rhino: Last male Sudan dies in Kenya.

People suck.

All I can ask you is your blessing buddy, that blessing means everything to me, old as you were I celebrate your live [sic] well lived.

James Mwenda, conservationist and Sudan caregiver, Facebook

Source: USA Today.

The whole Facebook letter is posted along with picture.

A life well lived, indeed!

Adrian Belew - Lone Rhinoceros


I am the lone rhinoceros
There aren't one hell of a lot us
Left in this world...

A southern white rhino has become pregnant through artificial insemination at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park—giving hope for efforts to save a subspecies of one of the world's most recognizable animals, researchers announced Thursday.

Victoria is the first of six female southern white rhinos the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research is testing to determine if they are fit to be surrogate mothers before using the limited sperm and eggs of the northern white rhino that are in storage to impregnate them.

The scientists want to use the frozen sperm and eggs that were taken from dead northern white rhinos to bring back a herd through artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

phys.org, May 17, 2018 - Rhino in San Diego pregnant, could help save subspecies.

Finally some good news! A southern white rhino, that if her pregnancy goes well, would be used as a surrogate to, I hope, bring back the northern white rhino.

We only have to wait 16 to 18 months to find out.

If all that is left is one male and two females they may as well be called extinct .
That is not a viable gen pool .
the cheetah is on the verge and even has a hard time breeding as so few are left inbreeding has taking its toll .
so much for the idea that man can not effect his environment . The citys are heat sinks and artificiality deserts .
whole rain forest are going changing the yearly rains for entire countrys but lest we forget man cant effect these things .
We should have evolved from the ostrich as we seam to keep our heads in the sand alot
www.youtube.com...

a reply to: midnightstar


Did you notice the dates? The thread started in 2015...

The male was euthanized back in March, 2018. His daughter and grand-daughter are not viable mothers. The nothern white rhino only lives in harvested eggs and sperm from poached animals. There is biodiversity there. The hope is to have the female southern white rhino prove she is capable of giving birth then have her be a surrogate mother for the northern species.

Naturally occurring, the northern white rhino is extinct.

along with 1000s of other animals from the time man came on the earth .
Being a predator is one thing being so called intelligent you would think we could learn it takes big animals to make little animals and to always leave enough so more little animals can be born .


I fished for years small ponds but me and my friends rules were ten times as strict as fish and game .
Rule one no female fish will be kept ( yes taht means every one of thous nice mounted bass would be let go because every one is female .
Then only a few fish even kept per month no matter what type bass sun fish carp cat fish .
even as teens we understood if we kept all teh fish there would be no more to get .

That small pond 100 feet by 200 feet 5 feet deep had the biggest bass in teh county and one that may have broken every record in the country .

a reply to: TNMockingbird

That is really sad.

I took some photo's of her in 2006. Did not get anything good that day as we had a horrible driver. The driver was supposed to always keep the sun behind us when approaching and consistently approached from the shady side. Ruined the whole day for the group of photographers in the back of the truck.

Here she is, younger and she slept nearly the whole day and never did get a shot of her standing up.




They explained about the plight and as I recall they had tried even artificial insemination on her to no avail.

That was the day the driver got stuck while we were surrounded by some kind of wild cattle they had there at the park. They started attacking the truck and they had to send in a second truck to herd them away by nudging them with the bumper so they could get us pulled out before the cattle took the truck apart.



That guy was right next to me and at one point charged the side of the truck. Even got bull snot on me through the wood railing that was the only thing between us and them. They literally had to push him out of the way with another truck. He was the gang leader and he wanted us for some reason.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Fantastic picture, heck of a story and THOSE eyes on that cattle!!!
Eyes of Fury...

The NY Times did an article when Sudan died. It's quite tragic, really and the only hope now is in vitro (sp?) fertilization of the two related females or frozen cell cultures. Either is not without risk and I'm just not sure how I feel about us continuing to tamper with nature, even though it is not natural how this species has gone away. Nearly.
Here's the NatGeo article
news.nationalgeographic.com...

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

That was awesome! I could feel his love as I read his words.

Good bye Sudan,I don't need to say it here that I loved you.you know it well from all the talks and the moments we had together,being with you for the last few years completely changed me,and as you taught me daily I continued to teach and inspire my fellow humans to be conscious and sensitive of our environment.i promised to be your voice(I ain't sure whether I duly and diligently fulfilled that) but I did my best. When I look back,In my years of caretaking you,my sadness and the essence of losing you is overcome by a contentment that I gave you all the best.Sudan I don't regret anything as deep within my heart I gave you everything. What I regret most,is whether my fellow humanity has learned from your existence.i tried as much to help them hear you through my thoughts and the lessons I learned through our personal day to day life,though still my voice has been small,I have testimonies that you have left an imprint in the hearts of many especially those I interacted with. If I was powerful in the face of earth and conservation world 19/04/18 would be "Sudan,the legend day" a day when parents should take their kids out and teach them how and why we need to embrace the environment.a day where a pic of Sudan could be presented in classroom and have the kids draw Him,so that they are conscious of extinction and how Sudan's existence meant.a day what we could ask those we know what they knew about the environment. I never expected to hear a thank you from you,no rewards,no clapping for congratulations,no job well done words,and no praise for it.sometimes the commitment,sacrifice and love of an animal can only be know by the animal,God and the caretaker only.catalyzed by the bond they share and the affection All I can ask you is your blessing buddy,that blessing means everything to me,old as you were I celebrate your live well lived. On the other side of life.greet Lola,Saut,Nasima,Nabire and the rest of the rhinos,tell them that some humans still upholds the madness that rhino horn is a cure.but their are others that still are fighting for your future. The big question is what does Sudan's existence and His death mean to you? Let us all purpose to learn. I will try my best to honor all that we talked about and live for what you have taught me R.I.P Sudan

a reply to: TNMockingbird


That was an awesome tribute! Brought a tear to my eye.

I am kind of torn on the "keep on tampering with mother nature", too. On one hand, having a northing white rhino roaming around on the planet gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. On the other hand... people suck. I mean, how are we as a species expected to grow when nobody seems to care the extinction of a species? "Species go extinct..." or "blah-blah percent of all living organisms are now dead" does not mean it should be OK to keep on going like any other day. And it seems most people are happy playing with their smart phone, eating junk food, and being consumers instead of creators.

There is nothing wrong with loving your environment. Wanting to clean up all the gyres of garbage in the ocean. And wanting to have to not sit there with 24-hour armed guards protecting the last specimen of a species. If that does not seem reasonable, then we have what Dr. Calhoun calls, "first death", the death of the spirit in a society which always leads to physical death of the individuals and of that society.

I know Mother Nature will out live us after we are all gone. Dinosaurs, mammoths, dodos, the northern white rhino,... so why does it seem humans want to get to the end so soon?

Pensive, angry TEOT, not good!

I think it is the long time it has taken for spring to have sprung after putting up with a long winter. Maybe a nice walk in the sun will do me some good!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I have to admit those wild cattle had me unnerved.

I'd imagine they have plenty of cells preserved for future use and I'm not bothered by that.

I disagree about it not being natural how they ended. Anything we do is natural for our species and species have been pushing other species out since the beginning. I'd call it unnecessary and sad, but not unnatural.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Hey TEOT, sunny today...good day for a walk : )

Some updates:
BBC

There are two sub-species of white rhinos in Africa - the near-extinct northern white rhino and the more prevalent southern white rhino.

However, these insemination attempts failed.

So they moved on to trying to make an embryo - an egg fertilised by sperm - in the lab.

That created another challenge: getting hold of the egg.

Success!
Now, where to grow the embryos?

With the rarer northern white rhino sperm and eggs he was confident he knew what would work.

He made two embryos with the first delivery of eggs in August 2019 and one more embryo with the second delivery four months later.

They are currently being preserved in his lab.

To grow, these embryos need a womb - but neither Fatu's nor Najin's are suitable.

I found this article interesting in that I hadn't given much thought to the virus's impact on conservation and campaigns and the impact of low tourism numbers and donations. It just truly never crossed my mind. Locally I support our Elephant Sanctuary, of course but, hadn't thought of it on a global scale...so short sighted I am at times!

"Conservation cannot be built and maintained only on tourism income or donor funding," he said. "Covid-19 is teaching us that we take nature for granted, together with clean water and air, and it seems we need to lose something before we realize its value. Nature cannot be recreated once it is gone."

< not really anyway...

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