Northern White Rhinoceros once lived in the grasslands of East and Central Africa, where their population ranged in hundreds of thousands. Their numbers, already reduced by hunters and poachers, fell to critical levels in the early 1980s due to demand for their horns which people have used for traditional medicine and flaunted as status symbols.
Between 1979 and 1986, one paper estimates their population fell as much as 80 percent, to 50 individuals or fewer. The last known sighting of a northern white rhino in the wild dates back to 2006, according to Discover Magazine.
Back in 2008, this incredibly Northern White Rhinoceros are announced as Critically Endangered.
Fortunately, an international consortium of scientists and conservationists called BioRescue announced last April that there are four additional northern white rhinoceros embryo produced from the last two remaining rhinos Najin and Fatu.
Today, there are now a total of nine embryos, all derived from oocytes collected from Fatu.
Sources:
PHYSORG
Discover Magazine
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