Death of northern white rhino saddening,says KWS

The CEO said there has been much attention after the death of the rhino.

The other three remaining northern white rhinos, all of which are elderly, are in captivity at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, the BBC also reported. Her death is a real-time window on extinction.

While Nola, a critically endangered northern white rhino who died November 22 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, is still being mourned by those who worked closely with her, as well as people from around the globe, scientists at San Diego Zoo Global are focusing on how Nola’s contributions to science could eventually help save her species from extinction.

According to a dispatch from the Kenya Wildlife Serice (KWS), Nola was the only female in the Western World, including North America, South America, and Europe.

Sudan and was rescued from the violent poaching that is prevalent in that region when she was only a few years old. As expected, due to Nola’s advanced age, no eggs were able to be collected; but her ovarian and uterine tissues were saved.

Nola was 41 years when a lingering infection caught up with her.

“Nola was an iconic animal, not only at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, but worldwide”, the park statement said. All the three are too old and are also not fit to breed naturally, said experts.

The Northern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is now the world’s rarest rhinoceros.

The northern white rhino population was devastated by poachers seeking their prized horns, and was declared extinct in the wild in 2008. One hundred years ago, when those 20 last southern white rhinos were collected and bred, they were taken straight from the savanna, not from a zoo.

“To keep the northern white rhinos safe and in good health, Ol Pejeta dedicated 24hr armed security, a 700-acre enclosure, and a nutritious diet supplemented with fresh vegetables”, the statement said.

“As humans, we have a duty to try because we are the ones who brought these animals to the point of extinction in the first place”, Richard Vigne, who runs the Ol Pejeta wildlife residency, said.

In October 2014, the younger male, Suni died with no prior history of illness.

Nola arrived at the Safari Park in 1989 from a zoo in what is now the Czech Republic and quickly became a favorite of zookeepers and visitors.

There are now just three living northern white rhinos, all of which live at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

The National Museum’s collection of northern white rhino materials includes specimens collected during African expeditions from 1910 and 1914, when northern whites were still living in the wild.