German researchers achieved the first-ever lab-assisted rhino pregnancy, raising hopes that scientists can save the northern white rhino from extinction

There are two species of African rhinos, the black rhino and the white rhino, the latter of which is further divided into two subspecies, the northern and southern

Once found across much of Africa, poaching and habitat loss have decimated northern white rhino populations

Today, there are only two remaining, and because both are female, the subspecies is functionally extinct

However, there is hope: 30 northern white rhino embryos are currently frozen in liquid nitrogen in Germany and Italy

Those could theoretically be transferred into a surrogate mother through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), potentially reviving the subspecies

Yet there is another problem: The last northern rhinos are both incapable of bearing children, meaning that the embryos would have to be inserted into the womb of another subspecies

On Wednesday, German researchers announced that they had impregnated a southern white rhino – a close relative of the northern version – with a southern white rhino embryo using IVF

The embryo, developed using an egg from a southern white rhino and the sperm of another, both in Belgium, was transferred to a surrogate mother in Kenya

That fetus survived for 70 days and researchers gave it a 95% chance of surviving, but tragically, the surrogate mother died from an unrelated infection before the calf was born

Researchers involved in that project expressed optimism that using similar techniques, they could impregnate a southern white rhino with the embryo of a northern white rhino

One scientist involved in the study said that because the “internal map” of southern white rhinos is “nearly the same” as its northern counterpart, there is a good chance that IVF could work

The team plans to attempt the procedure in the coming months so that any calf can live with the northern white rhinos that are still alive and therefore learn from them

Yet the team acknowledged that due to the lack of genetic diversity among the existing rhino embryos, there is a small chance that the species can be saved from extinction in the long term

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