Test Tube Baby, A White Rhino

As the number of White Rhino is gradually decreasing and are now counted in single digits and those remaining are having severe reproductive issues, so it was so far believed that the species of northern white rhinoceros could not be saved for long. As it is known that the northern white rhinoceros is the most endangered mammal in the world. Now with the successful attempt to develop the embryos, the hope of the first white rhino test tube baby is soon going to be a reality and scientists and wildlife experts are hopeful that with this finding, the dying species of rhino will be saved.

Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt and his team have declared in the journal Nature Communications that White Rhino story is not yet over. As after years of untiring efforts finally, the scientists are successful in developing hybrid embryos, using frozen sperm from northern white rhinos and eggs from closely related southern white rhinos, that can potentially be implanted into surrogate southern white rhino mothers to develop an offspring.

Scientists across the world are working on and exploring options to bring back the northern white rhino. Two white female rhino, a mother and daughter duo named Najin and Fatu are alive at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya now. But the only surviving male white rhino died last year in Sudan. He was also known as the “most eligible bachelor in the world”.

Dr. Hildebrandt, a wildlife reproductive biologist working at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, said, “We thought, the story's over”, when last male white rhino died in March last year, making the efforts almost impossible.

Whereas Cesare Galli of Avantea's laboratory of reproductive technologies and one of the authors of the report that published in Nature Communications, “It shows for the first time that modern technology can offer some options for conservation when the situation gets very bad, when species become endangered, such as the case of the northern white rhino. What we've done is very similar to what's done to couples with fertility problems, We've made a test-tube rhino”.

Now, with the possibilities scientists and biologists are also hopeful that they can use frozen skin cells extracted from available northern white rhinos to create induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells are adult cells including blood or skin cells, they can be used to act like stem cells.

According to Terri Roth, Vice President of Conservation and Science and Director at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, “the beauty of it is that we have a southern white rhino that is very closely related to the northern white rhino, and it's very likely that a southern white rhino could carry a northern white embryo to term”. He was not directly involved in the study. 

Now with the new discovery, the concern of dying species may have solved, but it is also the responsibility of the scientist to find out the causes of dying species and take up measures to protect the environment and ensure a better future for all being on earth.