Last male northern white rhino 'Sudan' dies on Kenya reserve Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, died aged 45, and is survived by two females at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.16:45, UK,Tuesday 20 March 2018 please log in to view this image Video:Last wild male rhino of his kind dies The last male northern white rhino has died in Kenya, keepers have confirmed. The 45-year-old animal died from "age-related complications", leaving only two females of his subspecies alive. In a statement, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya said the rhino, called Sudan, was put down after his condition "worsened significantly" and he was unable to stand. Dr Stephen Ngulu, the wildlife veterinarian who was in charge of Sudan, told Sky News: "He had to be put down because over the last year he has been under treatment for age-related complications." His condition deteriorated drastically in the last few days, he said. "Until recently he would wake up and he could rise, he could walk and he could eat. But two days ago he was not able to do that. He was not able to stand up, he was not able to eat, he was in a lot of pain and a lot of suffering. His quality of life was extremely poor," he said. Scientists have gathered his genetic material and are working on developing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to save his subspecies. please log in to view this image Image:A caregiver calms Sudan, the last known male of the northern white rhinoceros subspecies In a statement, the zoo wrote: "Sudan will be remembered for his unusually memorable life. "In the 1970s, he escaped extinction of his kind in the wild when he was moved to Dvůr Králové Zoo. Throughout his existence, he significantly contributed to survival of his species as he sired two females. "Additionally, his genetic material was collected yesterday and provides a hope for future attempts at reproduction of northern white rhinos through advanced cellular technologies. "During his final years, Sudan came back to Africa and stole the heart of many with his dignity and strength." Richard Vigne, Ol Pejeta's CEO, said: "We on Ol Pejeta are all saddened by Sudan's death. please log in to view this image Image:Maasai warriors pose with Sudan, who died at the age of 45 "He was a great ambassador for his species and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally of the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction as a result of unsustainable human activity. "One day, his demise will hopefully be seen as a seminal moment for conservationists worldwide." The northern white rhino population in Uganda, Sudan, Chad and Central African Republic was largely wiped out by poachers in the 1970s and 1980s, fuelled by a demand for rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine and dagger handles in Yemen. Four fertile northern white rhinos, two male and two female, were moved from a zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta with high hopes they would breed in an environment similar to their native habitat. Although they were seen mating, there were no successful pregnancies. please log in to view this image Image:Care giver Peter crouches next to Najin, the older of only two remaining female northern white rhinoceros subspecies The other male rhino, Suni, died of natural causes in October 2014. Jan Stejskal, Director of International Projects at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, said: "Sudan was the last northern white rhino that was born in the wild. His death is a cruel symbol of human disregard for nature and it saddened everyone who knew him. "But we should not give up. We must take advantage of the unique situation in which cellular technologies are utilised for conservation of critically endangered species. It may sound unbelievable, but thanks to the newly developed techniques even Sudan could still have an offspring."
What do we do? Do we let the species die out or do we **** with nature a bit more to keep them alive knowing full well that humans will be looking to shoot them down first chance? We really are ****ing this planet up. We're a cancer.
I've always wanted to learn to shoot, but trophy hunting and wiping out species for horns and tusks makes me feel sick.
Maybe some of the poachers who actually do the killing are just so desperate to feed their families - but I’d love to shoot the next layer up and the Chinese who create the demand. If all rhino are wiped out, I so hope that the Chinese really feel some pain without their “medicine” You would think an advanced nation as them would know that rhino horn has as many medicinal qualities as their own fingernails - and that constant killing is going to mean that they won’t get any anyway.
Yeah, I'm talking mainly about the rich privileged dicks who kill and then post their photos all over the internet.
Rotten stinken gets who do this, put them in a cage with a rhino or elephant for 10 minutes. The story of Diane fossey makes me weep, the Addams's (born free) just send the evil gets like the Yorkshire ripper out there and put a lion costume on him and televise it live that would be more interesting.
I don't have an issue with reviving extinct species' via their DNA, especially if we were the ones to wipe out the species. It's the right thing to do really.
Tragic news that has been coming for a good couple of decades now. When will people realise that action must be taken now to avoid any more disaster. So sad.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/04/species-revival-bringing-back-extinct-animals/ I won't copy and paste the whole article because it's looooong but it's an interesting look at the subject. My conclusion is, bringing back things that have been hunted to extinction since, say the Upper Palaeolithic, is a nice idea but why bring back the wooly mammoth? Where's it going to live? It's environmental niche doesn't really exist any more. Although I suppose it could wander round in Canada or northern Russia. Edit: not sure the link works- it's findable on Google anyway.
You would have to assess how such an animal is going to impact the environment and the habitat it would be released into.
This is true. In many cases, bringing back animals that died out longer than say 2000 years ago, in this country at least, might not be feasible because of the way the environment has changed. Just read another article actually, which said that in the case of Mammoths, for example, it wouldn't ever be a true a mammoth- it would have to be an elephant/mammoth hybrid. So really, an elephant with mammoth-like characteristics, which seems pointless really. Maybe the test should be is there an ecological gap that needs filling.
It’s something that people would do ‘because they could’ we would be showing off the fact that we have took such huge strives in scientific advancement creating this hybrid, but your right that the actual point of it is, pointless. I work with elephants day to day for work, and the troubles the speicies is struggling with in the wild is a much more pressing matter, and a cause to help them is certainly a better one than wasting money on making a hybrid.
Can you just keep those elephants off the M25 mate. Seriously, they cause so many problems everyday when I'm driving into London!
