World's last male northern white rhino 'ill'

[Still Waters 53,682]

The health of the world's last male northern white rhino has deteriorated, bringing the rhino subspecies a step closer to extinction caused by poaching.

The 45-year-old rhino named Sudan, listed as "The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World" on the Tinder dating app last year as a fundraiser, lives with the last two female northern white rhinos. Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy said Thursday that Sudan was struggling despite 24-hour care by veterinarians.

Sudan appeared to recover well from an infection that developed on his back right leg at the end of 2017 but another, deeper infection was recently discovered in the same area, the conservancy said.

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-health-world-male-northern-white.html
 

[LV-426 9,295]

Tragic, and such a sad indictment of humanity.

Every day I read about some of our advancements in space travel and technology and am amazed.

Every day I read stories like this and get brought back to earth

[Piney 72,585]

 Once again the attempt at conservation is a day late and a dollar short.......

[mysticwerewolf 369]

save the dna.  we can repopulate them  someday in the future

[Piney 72,585]

46 minutes ago, mysticwerewolf said:

save the dna.  we can repopulate them  someday in the future

Clones aren't genetically sound. You need the variables of a large population. Even if they manage to create offspring with the ones that are left the gene pool is "bottle necked" and there will be negative traits that are "nicked".

https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/bottlenecks_01

[GlitterRose 26,642]

4 hours ago, Piney said:

 Once again the attempt at conservation is a day late and a dollar short.......

Several.

[Katniss 1,461]

Poor thing. That's a shame.

[Brandy333 647]

Old age is a factor in the Rhino's reduced ability to fight the infection.  At least he and the other two are heavily guarded.

[seanjo 6,786]

Needs his testicles emptying and freeze the sperm, if they haven't already.

[DirtyDocMartens 258]

Feels like they're just postponing the inevitable, very sorry to say.

[seanjo 6,786]

Adapt or die.

Or, stop over-populating the planet with Humans that each have an ecological footprint.

[Jon the frog 2,581]

It's a subspecies, therefore putting is DNA back in the remaining populations of white rhino's can be a good idea to keep biodiversity.

[Still Waters 53,682]

Quote

The world's last surviving male northern white rhino has rallied slightly, days after his carers said his future was "not looking bright".

Sudan, who lives at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, enjoyed a mud bath in the rain on Monday, a spokesman told the BBC.

However, they were still not holding out "big hopes" for a miracle recovery.

The 45-year-old is one of just three remaining northern white rhinos and is the only male.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43300713

 

[Sir Smoke aLot 3,653]

I would measure greatness of humankind by the state of other beings, especially those which are endangered. Did i say greatness? Silly me.