Gale Force Winds

There are only two northern white rhinos left on the planet, and they’re both females. Sudan, the last male of this subspecies died last year, leaving just his daughter and granddaughter, Najin and Fantu. Veterinarians in Kenya were able to harvest five eggs from each female. In August, Italian scientists successfully fertilized seven of them with sperm that had been collected from two males – Suni and Saút – who have since died. Northern white rhinos, also known as northern square-lipped rhinos, have hairier ears and smaller bodies than their nearest relatives. They roamed the grasslands in central and eastern Africa before poaching and loss of habitat drove them to functional extinction. Surrogate rhino moms would be required, and it’s still an enormous long shot, but there’s a chance that someday there will be a new generation of northern white rhinos on the scene. Hopefully that will happen while Najin and Fantu are still around to show them how to BE northern white rhinos.