Joy,

The northern white rhino is officially extinct in the wild mainly because of humans. Poaching for their horns wiped out huge numbers, while farms and settlements destroyed the land they needed. The last male, Sudan, died in Kenya in 2018, leaving just two females, Najin and her daughter Fatu who now live at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya under 24/7 armed guard. They cannot naturally reproduce, so the subspecies is functionally extinct. Scientists are using IVF and frozen sperm to create embryos, with southern white rhinos as surrogates. Dozens of embryos exist now, and there was even a confirmed pregnancy, but the surrogate rhino carrying the embryo died around 70 days into the pregnancy from an unrelated infection, so no calf has been born yet. The work continues, and a northern white rhino baby could still happen.