Keepers have worked for months to build positive relationships with the rhinos and have trained them to voluntarily walk into a chute for medical procedures. Amani is one of six female southern white rhinos that were relocated to the Safari Park from private reserves in South Africa in November 2015, to serve as potential surrogates for a northern white rhino embryo in the future. “The sperm had excellent motility, the procedure went very well, the rhinos involved are doing great and now we wait and hope for a pregnancy.” The artificial insemination took place July 6 on a 9-year-old rhino named Amani, at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center. “This procedure was historic for us, as it was our first time to attempt artificial insemination on a rhino,” said Barbara Durrant, Ph.D., director of Reproductive Sciences, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Only three northern white rhinos currently remain on Earth. Researchers at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research accomplished their first artificial insemination attempt on a southern white rhinoceros earlier this month-a key step in San Diego Zoo Global’s science-based, collaborative efforts to develop and perfect assisted reproductive technologies to save the critically endangered northern white rhino. The gestation period for White Rhinoceros is 16 months.Procedure Marks Milestone in San Diego Zoo Global’s Efforts to Save the Critically Endangered Northern White Rhino from Extinction White Rhinoceros were distributed over much of the perennial grasslands of tropical Africa but are now limited to a few areas in south east Africa, south of the Zambezi and also in north-east Africa, west of the Nile. The White Rhinoceros are sociable animals and are usually found in herds unlike the Black Rhinoceros. They are recognisable by their square lip and grey skin colour. White Rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum: The White Rhinoceros is the second largest land mammal behind Elephants. Visitors to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo can currently see our most recent White Rhino calf, Nadira born in early April who is on exhibit with her mother and the rest of the White Rhinoceros herd. International conservation, research and breeding programs have boosted numbers and now the Southern White Rhinoceros is the most abundant species of rhinoceros however, poaching pressure is still intense. At the start of the 20th Century, there were no more than 200 Southern White Rhinos left in the wild. The Southern White Rhinoceros is considered endangered after having been on the brink of extinction. Taronga Western Plains Zoo plays a significant role in the regionally coordinated breeding program for the Southern White Rhinoceros and is one of the leading institutes in the management of this species. Aluka is one of the five Southern White Rhinoceros that were transported from Kruger National Park in South Africa to add important genetic diversification to the Zoo's herd. "From the ultrasound we can determine that Aluka is approximately three - four months pregnant with the gestation period of a White Rhinoceros being 16 - 18 months," said Pascale. "We have had great success with our breeding program for Southern White Rhinoceros at the Zoo and this pregnancy just builds on our achievements to date," said Pascale. "It is fantastic news to see that Aluka is pregnant, everyone is very excited about the prospect of another White Rhino calf here at the Zoo," said keeper Pascale Benoit. International Reproductive Experts from the International Zoo and Wildlife Research Institute in Berlin confirmed the pregnancy of Aluka, the White Rhinoceros via ultrasound during their recent visit to Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |