14th January 2021 – Cremona, Italy: Two new northern white rhino embryos created at Christmas – now there are five

The international consortium of scientists and conservationists that is working towards preventing the extinction of the northern white rhino through advanced assisted reproduction technologies is happy to announce that in December 2020, two new northern white rhino embryos were produced. On December 13, the team of Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Safari Park Dvůr Králové, Kenya Wildlife Service and Ol Pejeta Conservancy successfully performed an oocyte collection in Kenya. After immediate transportation of the recovered oocytes across continents, the embryos were created at Avantea laboratory in Cremona (Italy) following maturation and fertilisation of the oocytes with the semen of Suni. They were cryopreserved on Christmas eve when they reached the blastocyst stage suitable for freezing and increase the total number of viable embryos produced so far to five.

This nourishes the hope that despite challenges and delays caused by COVID-19 the northern white rhino can still be saved. The next steps in the programme are already underway.

The press release is available here.