Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 18 May 2018

Rhino in San Diego pregnant, could help save subspecies

By JULIE WATSON few births.
Associated Press Victoria is a healthy
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A south- 747-pound (1,700-kilogram)
ern white rhino has be- rhino estimated to be 7
come pregnant through years old.
artificial insemination at the She and the other five fe-
San Diego Zoo Safari Park male rhinos that range in
— giving hope for efforts to age from 4 to 7 years old
save a subspecies of one of were all born in the wild
the world's most recogniz- and relocated to San Di-
able animals, researchers ego's Safari Park in 2015.
announced Thursday. Scientists will be perfecting
Scientists will be watching artificial insemination tech-
closely to see if the rhino niques and embryo transfer
named Victoria can carry techniques on the females,
her calf to term over 16 to which undergo weekly ul-
18 months of gestation. trasounds. Durrant recently
If she does, researchers spotted the beginning of
hope someday she could tiny limbs of Victoria's baby
serve as a surrogate moth- during her recent ultra-
er and could give birth to sound. She is two months
the related northern white pregnant.
rhino, whose population is "We will know that they
down to two females after have proven themselves
decades of decimation by to be capable of carrying
poachers. The mother and a fetus to term before we
daughter northern white would risk putting a pre-
rhinos that live in a Kenya cious northern white rhino
wildlife preserve are not embryo into one of these
capable of bearing calves. southern white rhinos as a
The last northern white surrogate," Durrant said.
male rhino, named Sudan, This May 15, 2018 photo provided by the San Diego Zoo Global shows a southern white rhino fe- The ultimate goal — which
was euthanized in March male, Victoriaa at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, Calif. could take decades — is to
at the Kenya preserve be- create a herd of five to 15
cause of ailing health re- next decade as scientists Scientists hope to use fro- sents an historic event for northern white rhinos that
lated to his old age. work to re-create northern zen skin cells from the dead our organization but also a would be returned to their
Victoria is the first to be- white rhino embryos. northern white rhinos to critical step in our effort to natural habitat in Africa.
come pregnant of six fe- There are no northern white transform them into stem save the northern white rhi- Some groups have said in
male southern white rhinos rhino eggs so creating an cells and eventually sperm no," said Barbara Durrant, vitro fertilization is being de-
the San Diego Zoo Institute embryo would require us- and eggs. Then the scien- director of reproductive veloped too late to save
for Conservation Research ing genetic technology. tists would use in vitro fertil- Sciences at the San Diego the northern white rhino,
is testing to determine if The San Diego Zoo Institute ization to create embryos Zoo Institute for Conserva- whose natural habitat in
they are fit to be surrogate for Conservation Research that would be put in the six tion Research. Chad, Sudan, Uganda,
mothers. If they pass the has the cell lines of 12 dif- female rhinos. But more challenges lie Congo and Central Afri-
testing, they could carry ferent northern white rhinos "The confirmation of this ahead, with artificial insem- can Republic has been
northern white rhino em- stored in freezing tempera- pregnancy through arti- ination of rhinos in zoos rare ravaged by conflicts in the
bryos sometime within the tures at its "Frozen Zoo." ficial insemination repre- so far and resulting in only a region. They say the efforts
should focus on other criti-
San Juan's mayor says island not ready for hurricane season cally endangered species
with a better chance at
survival.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — in Connecticut Thurs- tions in Connecticut and power grid and caused The southern white rhi-
The mayor of San Juan, day receiving the "Latina Massachusetts that helped an estimated $94 billion in no and another species,
Puerto Rico, says the is- Champion" award at the in the hurricane relief effort. damage. the black rhino, are un-
land remains in desperate annual Latinas & Power Cruz says more than 1,000 She also again blasted the der heavy pressure from
need of help eight months Symposium, which pro- people have died and federal government's re- poachers who kill them for
after Hurricane Maria and motes Hispanic profession- that people are still dying sponse, saying the island their horns to supply illegal
isn't ready for another hur- al women. as a result of the Septem- was devastated once by markets in parts of Asia.
ricane season. She also presented awards ber storm that destroyed Hurricane Maria and again There are about 20,000
Carmen Yulin Cruz was to people and organiza- two-thirds of Puerto Rico's by "Hurricane Trump."q southern white rhinos in
Africa.q