Only Three Northern White Rhinos Remain
The death of one of the four remaining northern white rhinos has further stoked fears that the subspecies is doomed for extinction.
After a series of illnesses, Nola, a 41-year-old female, had to be euthanized by San Diego Zoo staff Sunday. Vets had been treating the rhino for a bacterial infection and had recently performed surgery to drain an abscess, but Nola’s condition worsened.
“This is a very difficult loss for the animal care staff who worked with her, our volunteers, guests, and to her species worldwide,” the zoo wrote on its Facebook page, in announcing Nola’s death. “Nola’s legacy will live forever as her death leaves just 3 northern white rhinos on the planet,” the zoo added.
Rhinos in the wild have a life expectancy of 35 to 40 years. Nola had been at the San Diego Zoo since 1989, when she arrived from a zoo in what is now the Czech Republic. Only three more northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) remain, all at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where they are watched over by armed guards 24/7 in response to intense poaching pressure.
A female northern white rhino named Nabiré died in a Czech zoo in July.
The three remaining rhinos (two females, one male) are considered too old to reproduce naturally. However, scientists have harvested sex cells from the individuals and are planning in vitro fertilization in a related southern white rhino surrogate in a last-ditch effort to save the subspecies. That effort is expected to take more than a decade.
