![]() The collection of oocytes is a really tricky process due to the technical difficulties in reaching the site of the ovaries in living animals. The procedure has so far been completed successfully in mice and could already provide a kind of precursor to oocytes in the northern white rhino. In fact, this process can transform a skin cell into an egg. The common thread is turning cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, which are immature cells generated from mature cells, and that can in turn differentiate into eggs. The BioRescue project and a research group at the San Diego Zoo in the US are also aiming to produce artificial eggs from body cells present in tissues. These could be used to conserve endangered species like the rhinoceros. At the Gamete Research Centre of the University of Antwerp in Belgium, our group is aiming to produce eggs outside the body from stem cells. This bottleneck led us to the area of stem cell technologies. Ongoing efforts are now looking to establish ways to localize and process the few remaining follicles in old ovarian tissue. These eggs were needed as the starting material for the project. Unfortunately, it became clear that the ovarian tissue of older rhinoceroses contained extremely few to no oocytes. As member of this project, one of us, Ruth Appeltant, was hopeful that this method had the potential to quickly provide a vast number of in vitro-grown oocytes, or mature eggs. This would bypass atresia, which is the degradation of follicles that occurs during a natural hormonal cycle. The idea is to make use of the much greater potential of the ovary by collecting the very small follicles and growing them all in a petridish in the lab. These supporting cells provide signals and components essential for the development of the eggs. While BioRescue is collecting matured eggs after hormonal stimulation, the Rhino Fertility Project at the University of Oxford in the UK is focusing on growing follicles, which are structures found in the ovary containing an immature egg surrounded by a few layers of supporting cells. Parallel initiatives focusing on different conservation approaches are indispensable to ensure the future of this species. These techniques would not only save the northern white rhinoceros, but also other rhino species, related species with a common ancestor, and all other creatures in need.ĭespite the great scientific strides made in efforts to save the northern white rhino, the success rate of embryo transplantation followed by pregnancy to term is extremely low. As a recognizable, impressive and majestic animal, rhinos certainly have a role as a flagship of conservation efforts.įurther, joint efforts on one species can provide scientific knowledge that allows for a multi-species conservation approach. Any species going extinct has huge consequences on the ecosystem, and people's survival depends on resources provided by this same ecosystem. Sometimes people question the funding and effort spent on one species, but the science behind the rhinoceros story is much bigger. The goal of producing a new northern white rhino calf now seems more realistic than ever before. Next to the addition of five more northern white embryos-which brings the total to 29-two wild southern white rhinos were identified as suitable surrogates, as they can still get pregnant and are able to carry the pregnancy through. However, there was promising news in May 2023. But, placing a northern white rhino embryo in a southern white female rhino isn't an easy task. The most suitable surrogate mother would be a southern white rhino as it is the closest related species. Therefore, the resulting embryos from the fertilized eggs will be transferred into surrogate mothers. Najin's back legs are too weak to carry a pregnancy and Fatu has problems with her uterus. ![]() The two remaining females, Najin and Fatu, are not capable of delivering offspring anymore. ![]() These eggs will be fertilized with frozen sperm that were collected from several northern white male rhinos before their death. They reside in Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a privately run wildlife sanctuary. In one of its research lines, the BioRescue team collects mature eggs-scientifically called oocytes-from one of the only two northern white females. It was founded in 2019 by a team of scientists and conservationists under the leadership of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany. The most famous of these projects is an international research consortium called BioRescue.
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