Saving the white rhinos

Question 1

embryo

Answer 1

an unborn animal or human being in the very early stages of development, inside its mother’s womb.

The extremely rare northern white rhino of East Africa was on the brink of extinction when the second-to-last living male, Suni, died in 2014, leaving behind two females, Najin and Fatu - the last living creatures of their species.
Conservationists started an artificial breeding programme, using eggs from the females and sperm from Suni to produce an embryo – an unborn animal in the very early stages of development.

Question 2

hybrid

Answer 2

animal or plant that has been bred from two different species.

Having genetically pure embryos prevents the birth of hybrids – animals that have been bred from two different species.
Absolutely right. They’re not hybrids, they’re pure northern white rhino embryos which were generated with the desired breeding partner, Suni, who died in 2014

Question 3

inbreeding

Answer 3

when animals or people are born by breeding between closely related parents.

It’s also important the embryos have no inbreeding – breeding of a young animal from two closely related parents- because this can cause disease.
there’s no inbreeding effect on these embryos, and it’s so important to make the next step, to transfer these embryos because we can preserve life – biological material - in liquid nitrogen, but what we can’t do – we can’t preserve social knowledge and therefore …

Question 4

calf

Answer 4

the young of several large mammals including cows, elephants, whales and rhinos.

Fortunately, Thomas and his team have preserved five healthy and genetically pure northern rhino embryos in liquid nitrogen. But while they can preserve ‘nature’, what Thomas’s team can’t provide is ‘nurture’ – the social knowledge that a young northern rhino – or calf – can only learn from other northern rhinos.
And since Najin and Fatu, the last remaining northern rhinos on Earth, are getting old, the race is on to breed a young rhino calf before they die.

Question 5

pregnancy

Answer 5

the state of a woman or female animal having a baby developing in their womb.

Normally it takes 16 months for a female rhino to complete her pregnancy - the state in which a woman or female animal has a baby developing inside her.
We will, for sure, not wait until this pregnancy is completed because it takes 16 months for a full pregnancy in a rhinoceros. So if this embryo implants - and we can see that on ultrasound …

Question 6

ultrasound

Answer 6

procedure which uses ultrasonic sound waves to create images of internal body parts or babies growing inside the body.

…which is why conservationists are monitoring the pregnancy using ultrasound - a procedure using sound waves to create images of internal body parts, or in this case, growing rhino babies.
It’s an unusual episode in the ongoing ‘Nature versus Nurture’ debate. And hopefully a big step towards restoring the northern white rhino population so that future generations get to see these magnificent creatures with their thick skin, horned nose and…