These southern white rhinos are a sub-species of the critically endangered northern whites. And they could be the answer to saving them from extinction. There are only three northern white rhinos left in the world. All of them are in captivity in Kenya. And cannot breed naturally because of advanced age and fertility problems. But there are more than 20,000 southern white rhinos left, including this one in a zoo in England. Scientists have extracted 9 eggs from three females here. These eggs will be used by researchers in Italy to develop IVF technology to help the northern whites to reproduce. But if efforts to create a pure northern white rhino fail, there is a back-up plan. Scientists will then create an embryo using eggs from southern whites and sperm from a northern white. This way, they can create a new hybrid species and preserve at least some of the genes of the endangered animal.
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