The white rhino is the second largest land mammal, and as a species, it is the only rhinoceros species that isn’t considered endangered or critically endangered by IUCN. That said, only one subspecies of white rhino has relatively healthy numbers. That would be the subspecies known as the southern white rhinoceros, which has an estimated population of over 17,000 individuals. Its range is in southern Africa.
The other subspecies is not so well-off. Indeed, it might be safe to say that this subspecies is functionally extinct. The other subspecies is the northern white rhinoceros, which has (or had) a range in Central and East Africa.
The best estimate of the population of the northern white rhinoceros is 8 in captivity and 4 in the wild. Now, take this with a caveat, because those four wild white rhinos haven’t been seen since 2006. Those four were living in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Park of Congo, which is not the most stable country in the world. It is now suspected and largely accepted that there are no wild northern white rhinos left.
As for the surviving eight captive northern white rhinos, things are not that good at all. The San Diego Wild Animal Park has two northern whites, and the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic has the remaining six. The Dvůr Králové Zoo also has a crossbred rhino, but such crossbred animals cannot be part of a breeding program.
The San Diego population is not breeding. Their original population of three consisted of a fertile male, an infertile female, and a female that was not behaviorally receptive to the male’s advances. So this population is not breeding at all. However, the Czech population is fertile.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but those two populations aren’t very close to each other. That means that transporting them to breed with each other is a major hassle and very costly. AI attempts are being proposed.
But I don’t think you’re going to save this subspecies with just a few breeding animals– unless it ever becomes acceptable to breed them with the southern subspecies. Now, such a suggestion is heresy in animal conservation programs.
The animal that is preserved must be the exact subspecies. Hybrids don’t normally count. However, sometimes, it does. Most American bison on the prairies today have domestic cattle ancestry– not much.
And I think that if an exception can be made for these bison, which have the blood of an entirely different species in their veins, then I think we can make an exception for hybrids between the two subspecies of white rhino.
Because that’s really the only hope the northern white rhino has.
Hi,… nice to visit here. And nice posting. Thanks.
If I were that Rhino, I would worry about that back hoe waiting behind my cage…
There is all sorts of gray area. Przewalski’s Horse comes to mind. And there are programs to bring back the quagga though selective breeding of related zebra species, and to bring back the Tarpan horse in a similar way.
Conservation through captive breeding is so fraught with controversy anyway, what’s a little hybrid breeding to add to the mix?
The Tarpan was a scam orchestrated by some Nazi zoologist brothers, along with the reconstructed aurochs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heck_cattle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heck_horse
Because so much money and resources were wasted on these animals, not much was done to conserve the European bison, which is now quite rare, existing in just a few forest populations here and there.
Przewalski’s horse wasn’t a scam. That was a real attempt to reintroduce the native animal. They are strange. They have a different chromosome number from domestic horses, but they can breed with them and produce fertile offspring. We do know that they have crossed with domestic horses in the wild. So they may be the same species, just with one subspecies having a different chromosome number.
The Florida panther than exists today was saved from a severe inbreeding depression by introducing Texas cougars to Florida. Today, most Florida panthers are hybrids.
Hybridization may be the only way to save these subspecies. And it’s not a problem that we domestic dog people can ignore either. Lots of breeds have the same problem. In my breed, they are quite numerous, but their genetic diversity continues to decline year after year.
Maybe we should be allowed to cross goldens with Labradors, flat-coats, and maybe setters to increase their genetic diversity.
Oh, how could I have forgotten red wolves?!
No red wolf has been found that didn’t have coyote MtDNA or “regular” wolf MtDNA.
Thank you for the article. It is a rather dismal situation. I agree with you. Sometimes exceptions have to be considered.
[…] few days ago, I wrote about the northern white rhinoceros, which is probably extinct in the wild. Only a few captive individuals exist, and I suggested that […]
[…] few days ago, I wrote about the northern white rhinoceros, which is probably extinct in the wild. Only a few captive individuals exist, and I suggested that […]
I would advocate some form of intervention. What the article fails to divulge is that the Dvur Kralove Zoo has been trying for years to set up AI and assist with mega population management, meaning inter-twinning both the captive and the wild northern white rhino into one breeding group out of range (Kenya). The Congo government has been the principal blocking agent to this move and since 2006 increased poaching in Garamba has brought the rhinos from 20-30 down to nil.
Secondly, if the journalist in question had done his research properly he/she would have known that both females at San Diego were transferred from Dvur Kralove to San Diego – on the philosophy San Diego did have good success with southern white rhino breeding – to an unrelated bull in the US. However, no breeding occurred and the last natural birth has been in 2000 at Dvur.
Finally, it would have made the newspaper item that much more interesting if one would have reported on that the move of the Dvur individuals to Kenya to stimulate breeding under near natural conditions in a rhino conservancy is more or less finite and should go head this year.
In all, it would have shown that had all politics been left aside, the northern white rhino might have been saved much earlier and far more easily than now … when essentially we are in a past-crisis stage rescue attempt.
Most humbling of all, I am afraid is that even in the US the above situation is all the more true of the USFWS and the way species recovery programmes are run and implemented (even sometimes like with Mexican wolves – even though their wild numbers are not above 60 from reintroduction – they are allowed to be killed when predating on livestock).
In my view, we should have a more even-headed approach to our environment and sometimes make informed choices over and above direct economic interests. We definitely need more informed communication and advocacy if environmental conservation and conservation biology are to do what we should be doing conserve our environment for future generations.
Under normal circumstances the production of subspecific hybrids is unacceptable. But in the case of the Northern White rhino it is now the most far reaching possibility to save their genetic component. It is said that the Northern and Southern differ by 4% in their DNA (Guerin, 1980). So if this is true then subspecific hybrids are made – they will have 98% Northern DNA. There is a method by which the subspecific hybrid offspring could be fertilised with Northern Sperm to produce animals that are ‘3/4’ Northern. They would then have 99% Northern DNA. Surely this is acceptable??? What would you have – animals that are 99% Northern – or nothing???
That’s actually quite a variance– as much as exists between wolves and coyotes. I wonder if anyone has tested the fertility of the hybrids, because wolf-coyote hybrids sometimes have fertility issues in succeeding generations.
We better safe and conserve,because this is the only way out!we need the future generation to witness the wonders of the world.who needs dagger handles from rhino horns?who needs afrodisiacs from rhino horns?i mean its just kerratine like our own hair,,,eat up hair first
i only hope i will see the whole process from JKIA,to their new home away from home