Specifically, they have frozen samples of semen. The idea would be either to try to fertilize eggs in the laboratory — the test tube rhino scenario — or alternatively to impregnate a southern white rhino, of which there are far more.
You would then then take female calves from that combination, and combine them with sperm from another northern white. But the best you could hope for would be a 15/16 pure northern white, Rieches said.
In any case, he is not expecting a breakthrough overnight. The gestation period for a northern white rhino is 17 months.
“So this is a long term project. We’re in it for the long haul… it will take time before something comes to fruition, it certainly will be a couple of years,” he said.
For Rieches, the quest is personal. He has worked for the conservancy group San Diego Zoo Global for 36 years, and is on the board of directors of the International Rhino Foundation.
If the last northern white rhino dies, he will be devastated.
“A large portion of my life has been rhinos… it’s going to be a huge, huge thing for me if this happened on my watch, if this happened during my lifetime.”
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