Sudan is the last male northern white rhinoceros in the world. Sudan lives at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya along with his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu – the last two female white rhinos in the world. Northern White Rhinoceroses are guarded twenty four hours a day at the Conservancy to protect them from poaching, which is a major problem for rhinos. The protection includes horn-imbedded transmitters, watchtowers, fences, drones, guard dogs and trained armed guards around the clock.
Sudan was born in Shambe, in what is today, South Sudan in 1973 and is believed to be the last northern white rhino born in the wild. In 1976, he was taken to Dvur Kralove Zoo in then Czechoslovakia, where he grew to be 6 feet tall and a whopping 5,000 lbs (roughly the weight of a midsize car) and fathered two daughters.
In 2009, after the northern white rhino was declared extinct in the wild, four rhinos including Sudan, his daughter Najin, and his granddaughter Fatu were transferred back to their native African habitat. Conservationists hoped that the natural Kenyan environment of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy would encourage breeding among the rhinos, but within several years, veterinarians came to the conclusion that natural reproduction would most likely not be possible.
Yet there is still hope, as scientists work to develop in vitro fertilization techniques to save the subspecies from the brink of extinction. For now, Sudan’s legacy rests with Najin and Fatu, the world’s final two northern white rhinoceros.
Credit : Google
Picture Credit : Google
