00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 This is one of only two northern white rhinos left
00:07 in the world.
00:07 The hyper-endangered creature is effectively extinct.
00:11 But now researchers say they've done the impossible,
00:13 and it could allow the species to live on.
00:15 Researchers with BioRescue have just
00:17 announced that an in vitro produced
00:19 northern white rhino embryo was successfully
00:21 transferred into a southern white rhino surrogate mother.
00:24 And that pregnancy is going well,
00:26 and it's developing normally.
00:28 This is Thomas Hildebrandt.
00:29 Head of reproduction at the Leibniz Institute
00:32 for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
00:33 We achieved together, and that's really important.
00:37 Not my person, not another person.
00:39 We achieved together something which
00:41 was not believed to be possible.
00:44 We really made the impossible possible.
00:46 And today we can report that.
00:50 And that is really a milestone to allow
00:53 us to produce northern white rhino calves in the next two,
00:57 two and a half years.
00:58 The last male northern white rhino on Earth
01:00 died back in 2018, and the two remaining females
01:03 can no longer carry children, painting
01:05 a grim future for the species.
01:07 However, through conservation measures
01:08 and in vitro fertilization, they hope
01:10 this will be able to bring the species back from the brink.
01:13 Northern white rhinos have long been
01:14 hunted by poachers for their horns,
01:16 decimating their population.
01:18 They are considered the world's most endangered mammal.
01:22 (upbeat music)
01:25 (upbeat music)
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