Italy

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The Future of The northern white rhino looks bleak. Only two left in The World - both are female. But scientists have a plan a failed to save them from extinction.

When I went to the rhinos in Kenya , she began circling The Car .

So I was concerned if your reference person, James Mwenda, opened The Car door.

"We can Get Out of The Car ?" I asked.

"Yes, You are quiet," he assured me.

to be delivered, But as I did, to me - it seemed very quiet.

I hid behind The Other side of The Car , as Mr Mwenda tried to reassure me that You are not afraid of people, although it has to stop me because they are afraid of rhinos.

The rhino named Najin, had tame was approached us, because they have been brought up in a Zoo in the Czech Republic.

she now lives in a huge fenced-off area of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Central Kenya .

Rajin is One of two Northern white rhinos in The World

In 2009, she was One of four Northern white rhinos, two male and two female, were brought from the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic to breed this large enclosure in an attempt to.

The idea was that if You were Taken to a rhino's natural habitat, this could change.

But it did not work. The Four ambitious, But the two Females , Najin and Her Daughter Fatu, not give birth.

the two men died. First, the 34-year-old Suni, died of Natural Causes in the year 2014. Then, Four Years later, and his muscles and bones degenerate was.

Now, Najin and Fatu, the only Northern white rhinos in The World - and neither pregnancy can wear.

Precious Sperm

This did not deter scientists from all over The World , has held try to save the Species - and You have a pretty exceptional system.

It includes carefully preserved Sperm from Suni and Sudan, and other males of the Northern white rhinos, before she died.

The Dead rhinos' Sperm was collected low quality

You , with the intention of artificial insemination of women, including the southern white Rhino.

There are two sub-Species of white rhinos in Africa - the almost extinct Northern white Rhino and the more common southern white rhino.

But , this fertilization failed.

So they moved on, to try to have an Embryo fertilized an Egg by Sperm in the laboratory.

This creates a further challenge: always keep The Egg .

Dr. Hilderbrandt (C) had less than two hours, eggs to collect from Fatu if he made One wrong move, he would have. killed

For the veterinary experts of leading The Process proved to be very complicated, in fact, the eggs reach the ovaries -where the eggs are stored - they are at least 1 5m (4. 9 ft) in a female Rhino.

loops of bowel in The Way , Dr Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and wildlife research (IZW) in Berlin, told me.

And a pipe can be Taken , which can be in a rhino's vagina than done, with people and horses, he says.

In the big cats, animal doctors go through the abdomen to the ovaries, explains Dr. Hildebrandt, the Director of the IZW is the reproduction of the unit.

But this includes the cutting of The Skin , something that can't be done to rhinos as yours, to 5cm (2in) thick.

While it protects You when You are in fights, it never heals so if You cut eventually die.

Getty white rhinos

consists Of two subspecies: the Northern white rhinos and southern white rhinos

nickname: "Square-lipped rhinos"

North: the population in two, under armed guard in Kenya

Southern: Estimated population of 20,000, mostly in southern Africa ,

differences: The North are slightly smaller and less hairy than the southern

poachers: aim for their horns to smuggle to Asia for a cure

Rhino horns made Of Keratin , created of the same substance as finger nails

Various sources

So Dr. Hildebrandt is an instrument to collect eggs.

It was a hose, of an ovarian follicle, is stored in the through the anus, and has a long, delicate needle at its end with the pierce where an Egg . The Needle is provided with a suction device that The Egg soaks to the bottom of the long tube.

"You have to work it carefully," he explains about the instrument that he has patented.

"Otherwise You can puncture a major blood vessel is a diameter of a child's arm".

This leads to Internal Bleeding and ultimately death, so he used a 4D ultrasound scanner, which allows him to see everything during the procedure.

If correctly done, the impact on the rhino is minimal, Dr. Hildebrandt says.

But the operation can not be more than two, as this is how long a rhino can be sure, stunned.

Last Year he managed to extract out of the 19 eggs in total from both Najin and Fatu. to fertilize

Mad dash to Italy

The Next step was The Egg with The Sperm .

For this pioneering work, they needed in-vitro-fertilization (IVF) expert.

Cesare Galli, located in the Avantea private laboratory in Italy , fitted The Bill .

So, as soon as the eggs were collected, they had to be rushed from Kenya to Italy .

Dr. Hilderbrandt, and Prof Galli had, the eggs had to fight to Italy as soon as possible

Prof Galli to the embryos of other Rhino Species in The Past , such as The Sperm from rhinos more of a low quality as it is mixed with the urine.

"This is because, The Sperm , You go to the rectum and electric shock rhino, The Sperm -coming, with this method, Sperm and urine and other fluids can come from a total of. "

Dr. Galli took years to perfect The Method with Sumatran rhinos and southern white rhinos, so that a breakthrough due to electric shock The Egg to get to it and The Sperm to form an Embryo .

The Practice paid.

With the rarer northern white rhino Sperm and eggs and he was sure that he knew what would work.

He made two embryos, with The First delivery of the eggs in August 2019 and a further Embryo with The Second delivery four months later.

they are currently preserved in his laboratory.

to grow these embryos to a uterus, But neither Fatu's still Rajin' s are suitable.

More on the topic of nature conservation:

Nineteen-year-old Fatu's never had a calf in spite of mating.

If the veterinarians gave her an ultrasound, they found she had no lining in your uterus, which means You can't be a pregnancy to carry to Full Term , said Stephen Ngulu, a veterinarian at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Fatu 30-year-old mother, Najin, has weak hind Legs - as a Problem, because if the rhinos are pregnant, the hormone progesterone changes the dynamic of your Legs .

"If she falls and You don't get her And Then that was it - she loses her and You don't lose The Baby ," Dr. Ngulu says.

You are not to Take That risk.

Rather than You intend to use, the southern white rhino Surrogate.

A handful of female southern white rhinos have been fenced and are lined up to be Surrogates

But Dr Galli, it is not so much that You know about the reproduction of rhinos.

Try to put in The Past of the embryos in a southern white rhinoceros in zoos failed.

One of the things, to fight The Scientists to work, the time for Implantation of the Embryo .

You need to know exactly when The Body is best Ready to attach to it, to the uterine lining.

In women, the menstrual cycle of the woman is determined, when the implantation of an Embryo .

Implantation, after the Sex

But not all animals have cycles - Some animals, including cats, lay their eggs, if they mate.

If this also applies to rhinos, then it is possible to have Sexual Intercourse , as an indicator, Dr. Galli explained.

In other words, it may be that The Scientists increase the chances of The Surrogate mother carries the pregnancy until birth, when the implant of the Embryo , after they had Sex .

The adult males have all been from the large enclosure, the young people are leaving to play in the mud

This presumption has led, to place, to The Scene for The Next stage in their elaborate plan.

Four wild female southern white rhinoceroses were included with their young in their natural environment, not far from the two last remaining Northern white rhinos.

The Next step is to have a sterilized southern white rhino, with the women and would-be Surrogates .

"So, if You see that bull the Assembly, they say: 'Rhino' s Ready . "You dart that rhino, they put the Embryo in. This is the dream," says Dr. it too.

in contrast to Najin and Fatu, they are wild, so You can be hard to track down in the vast enclosure.

animals, rhinos, kenya, conservation

Source of news: bbc.com