There are only four northern white rhinos left in the world after the Czech zoo in Dvur Kralove reported that the 31-year-old female rhino Nabire died on Monday evening due to a ruptured cyst.
Nadire was born at the zoo in Nov. 15, 1983, and lived their until her death on Monday, July 27, according to the New York Daily News .
“The pathological cyst inside the body of Nabire was huge. There was no way to treat it,” said Ji?í Hrubý, a rhino curator at the zoo.
This saddens me deeply. BBC News – Death of rare Northern White Rhino leaves four alive http://t.co/GeI5tdCa2O
— laura perez (@lauraaprez) July 29, 2015
While Nadire suffered from reoccurring cysts, conservationists hoped to be able to harvest eggs from her healthy left ovary to use for in vitro fertilization (IVF). They made one successful attempt while she was still alive, and upon her death, her ovary was removed and sent to a specialized lab in Italy.
Only 4 northern white rhinos left on Earth – And then there were four. http://t.co/B66Tpj3L6J
— World News (@Worldnews_Media) July 29, 2015
“Her death is a symbol of the catastrophic decline of rhinos due to a senseless human greed. Her species is on the very brink of extinction,” Premysl Rabas, the zoo director, said in a statement , BBC News reports.
Only four left..Northern white rhino,we are watching the demise of a species. Rangers and dogs guardians of the gate pic.twitter.com/hjie4V8i0Q
— DARYLL PLEASANTS (@daryllpleasants) July 29, 2015
After Nabire’s death, only four northern white rhinos remain:Nola, an elderly female living at a zoo in San Diego, California, and Sudan, an elderly male living with two females, Najin and her daughter Fatu, on the Ol Pejeta reserve in Kenya.
Nola, 1 of 5 northern white rhinos left on Earth, recovering after illness at San Diego Zoo. http://t.co/Q5Dk9gIN99 pic.twitter.com/KkOWfJFTZn
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) July 26, 2015
In 2009, the Czech zoo moved the four rhinos to Kenya, hoping that the natural environment there would help them to breed. However, this plan sadly failed. The new plan is to implant the embryos from the northern white rhinos into their more plentiful closely-related Southern White Rhino.
[Photo via Shutterstock]
