The remaining Northern white rhinos
There are only three remaining Northern White rhinos in the world, two females and one male, named Sudan. All three live at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya and are under 24-hour surveillance by armed guards, defending the animals against poachers. The last wild Northern White rhinos were killed by poachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, spelling the end of this majestic species because of human brutality and greed. Shockingly, it is estimated that at least three rhinos are killed by poachers every single day.
As his name indicates, Sudan was born in South Sudan but was captured when he was just a year old and sent to the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. Over three decades later, in 2009, he was moved to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy with two northern white females Najin and Fatu and another male, Suni, for a “Last Chance To Survive” breeding program aimed at saving the species. Suni has since passed away, leaving Sudan as the species’ only remaining male. However, attempts to have Sudan mate with the females have failed, essentially spelling the species’ impending extinction.
While there were still over 2,000 Northern White rhinos in the world in the 1960s, the species has been poached to near extinction in past decades, with just three individuals remaining today. Just as elephants are poached in huge numbers for their ivory tusks, rhinos are killed for their horns.
Rhino horn is sought as an aphrodisiac or a recreational “drug,” or a high-status gift. False rumors claiming that powdered rhino horn can cure cancer fuelled the trade and pushed prices up. The product can sell for as much as $100,000 per kilogram in illegal markets in Asia, making it more costly than cocaine. The high price it fetches means poachers are relentless in seeking it out, ready to senselessly and brutally murder thousands of animals and even going so far as to hack off the horns of live rhinos and leaving them to die from their wounds. 😢
As his name indicates, Sudan was born in South Sudan but was captured when he was just a year old and sent to the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. Over three decades later, in 2009, he was moved to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy with two northern white females Najin and Fatu and another male, Suni, for a “Last Chance To Survive” breeding program aimed at saving the species. Suni has since passed away, leaving Sudan as the species’ only remaining male. However, attempts to have Sudan mate with the females have failed, essentially spelling the species’ impending extinction.
While there were still over 2,000 Northern White rhinos in the world in the 1960s, the species has been poached to near extinction in past decades, with just three individuals remaining today. Just as elephants are poached in huge numbers for their ivory tusks, rhinos are killed for their horns.
Rhino horn is sought as an aphrodisiac or a recreational “drug,” or a high-status gift. False rumors claiming that powdered rhino horn can cure cancer fuelled the trade and pushed prices up. The product can sell for as much as $100,000 per kilogram in illegal markets in Asia, making it more costly than cocaine. The high price it fetches means poachers are relentless in seeking it out, ready to senselessly and brutally murder thousands of animals and even going so far as to hack off the horns of live rhinos and leaving them to die from their wounds. 😢
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