One of Last Northern White Rhinos Dies at San Diego Zoo

A northern white rhino died of old age on Sunday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
According to Amy Hubbard and Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times, the deceased 44-year-old rhino was a male named Angalifu. Zoo officials said that Angalfu’s health was said to be declining, and that he had not eaten in several days.
“Angalifu’s death is a tremendous loss to all of us,” safari park curator Randy Rieches told the Associated Press (AP) in a statement Monday. “Not only because he was well beloved here at the park but also because his death brings this wonderful species one step closer to extinction.”
His passing means there is only one northern white rhino surviving at the San Diego zoo, an elderly female named Nola, as well as one at a zoo in the Czech Republic and three at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Attempts to breed Angalifu and Nola were unsuccessful, and similar efforts have failed in Kenya as well.
The other remaining northern white rhinos are: Sudan, a male living in Kenya that is now the last surviving male northern white rhino; two females also living in the Kenya preserve named Najin and Fatu; and an elderly female at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, the Washington Post said.
The northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), also known as the northern square-lipped rhinoceros, is a subspecies of the white rhinoceros that was once found in a large range in South and East Africa. No remaining members of the species live in the wild, and experts believe that it has already lost its last chance for natural reproduction.
“In October, a male called Suni – the first of his kind ever born in captivity – died of unknown causes in Kenya, where he was part of the breeding program with Sudan, Najin, and Fatu. At the time, the Dvur Kralove zoo called Suni ‘probably the last male capable of breeding,’” the Washington Post said. “Last week, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy said publicly for the first time that the breeding experiment has more or less failed.”
“Semen and testicular tissue from Angalifu are stored at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research for possible use with the rhinos in Kenya when new reproductive technologies are developed,” added Hubbard and Perry. If these artificial reproductive techniques fail, it is likely that the species is doomed to extinction.
The World Wildlife Fund said, as of 1960, there were more than 2,000 northern white rhinos, but the population was decimated by poachers seeking the animals’ horns. Only 15 remained as of 1984, and while aggressive conservation efforts helped the population double by 1993, they have again fallen victim to poachers.
C. simum cottoni can reach six feet in height at the shoulder and can weigh up to 3,500 pounds for females and 8,000 pounds for males. Their heads alone can weigh as much as one-half ton. Their horns are valuable in Asia, fetching up to $30,000 per pound, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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