The world's last male northern white rhino has died, the Kenyan conservancy taking care of it said, leaving only two females of its subspecies alive in the world, although scientists still hope to save it from extinction through in vitro fertilization. A caregiver calms Sudan, the last known male of the northern white rhinoceros subspecies, in late 2016, at the Ol Pejeta conservancy at the foot of Mount Kenya. (Joe Mwihia/Associated Press)Ol Pejeta said that staff had collected Sudan's genetic material on Monday, which could be used in future to attempt reproduction of northern white rhinos. "The only hope for the preservation of this subspecies now lies in developing in vitro fertilization techniques using eggs from the two remaining females, stored northern white rhino semen from males and surrogate southern white rhino females," it said. Poachers were able to sell northern white rhino horns for $50,000 US per kilo, making them more valuable than gold.

Source: CBC News March 20, 2018 08:15 UTC