There are only two northern white rhinos left in the world: Najin and Fatu. Researchers from Berlin, among others, now want to produce offspring using artificial insemination. To do this, frozen sperm from dead rhinos will be inserted into the eggs of still-living females. The embryo should then be carried to term by a southern white rhinoceros cow. However, a first attempt at surrogacy ended tragically. The pregnant rhino died of an infection, and with her the 70-day-old fetus.
Scientists say they performed the first successful embryo transfer on a rhino. They hope to use the technique to save the northern white rhino, whose population poachers in Africa decimated.