Kenya, i ricercatori provano a salvare il rinoceronte bianco del Nord

Un team internazionale sta portando avanti un progetto a sostegno di questa specie sull'orlo dell'estinzione. E il Coronavirus sta rallentando e rendendo ancora più difficile il raggiungimento dell'obiettivo. LA FOTOGALLERY

Najin (background), 30, and her offspring Fatu, 19, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Un team internazionale di scienziati e conservazionisti ha riavviato l'ambizioso progetto per salvare il rinoceronte bianco del Nord dall'estinzione

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Fatu (background), 19, and her mother Najin, 30, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Il progetto ha subito una pausa di alcuni mesi dovuta alla pandemia di Coronavirus, ma il 18 agosto 2020 è ripartito con il prelievo di 10 ovociti dagli ultimi due esemplari rimasti, Najin e Fatu, due femmine di 31 e 19 anni

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Najin (foreground), 30, and daughter Fatu, 19, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Si tratta della terza procedura di prelievo di ovuli nei rinoceronti bianchi del Nord, avvenuta presso la riserva di Ol Pejeta in Kenya

Najin (R) and Fatu, the only two remaining female northern white rhino, graze in her paddock on March 20, 2018 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of capital Nairobi.
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, has died in Kenya at the age of 45, after becoming a symbol of efforts to save his subspecies from extinction, a fate that only science can now prevent. / AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Dodici mesi dopo il primo prelievo di ovociti nell'agosto 2019 e otto mesi dopo il secondo, il team ha infatti ripetuto l'operazione. Gli animali sono stati posti sotto anestesia generale e 10 ovociti, due di Najin e 8 di Fatu, sono stati prelevati dalle ovaie con una sonda guidata da ultrasuoni

Fatu (L), 19, files along behind her mother Najin, 30, as they are led back to pasture by a caretaker August 23, 2019 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of Kenyan capital, Naironi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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L'anestesia e il prelievo degli ovociti sono avvenuti senza problemi e senza complicazioni. Gli ovociti sono stati immediatamente trasportati tramite aereo al Laboratorio Avantea in Italia

Najin, 30, and her offspring Fatu (unseen), 19, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Le restrizioni di viaggio e i divieti di scambio e contatto di questo periodo hanno infatti impedito lo svolgimento delle ulteriori fasi della procedura nei giardini zoologici europei e a Ol Pejeta

A picture taken on May 28, 2019 shows the world's last female pair of northern white Rhinoceros, Najin (L) with her daughter Fatu in their enclosure at Ol-Pejeta conservancy at Laikipia's county headquarters, Nanyuki. - Ol-Pejeta, a private conservancy on Kenya's Laikipia plateau that shelters, among other endangered giants, the only two northern white rhinos left anywhere on earth, launched what it calls the world's first wildlife tech lab, that develops the latest technological weaponry to combat poaching. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Il team dell'Istituto tedesco Leibniz e del Parco Safari ceco Dvr Kra'love’ ha superato criticità decisive per eseguire questa importante procedura in tempi così difficili

Najin (L) and Fatu, two of the only remaining female northern white rhino graze together in their paddock on March 20, 2018 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of capital Nairobi.
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, has died in Kenya at the age of 45, after becoming a symbol of efforts to save his subspecies from extinction, a fate that only science can now prevent. / AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Nei prossimi giorni gli ovuli prelevati saranno incubati, maturati e fecondati con gli spermatozoi di maschi di rinoceronte bianco del Nord già morti, sperando che portino alla creazione di embrioni vitali

Najin (foreground), 30, and her offspring Fatu, 19, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Presto verrà selezionato un gruppo di rinoceronti bianchi del Sud presso la riserva di Ol Pejeta, nel quale sarò individuata una femmina come madre surrogata per l'embrione

Fatu (front) and Najin, the only two remaining female northern white rhinos graze, in a paddock on March 20, 2018 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of capital Nairobi.
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, has died in Kenya at the age of 45, after becoming a symbol of efforts to save his subspecies from extinction, a fate that only science can now prevent. / AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Il team si affida all'esperienza maturata attraverso le procedure di impianto di embrioni nei rinoceronti bianchi del Sud che sono state eseguite per affrontare le sfide della riproduzione negli zoo europei

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L’obiettivo è salvare il rinoceronte bianco del Nord dall'estinzione, ma la pandemia di Coronavirus ha colpito duramente il progetto e i suoi partner

A Fatu, 19, grazes with her mother Najin (unseen), 30, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP) (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Organizzazioni come il Parco Safari Dvr Kra'love' e Ol Pejeta infatti hanno affrontato, e continuano ad affrontare, una crisi molto profonda in quanto dipendenti quasi totalmente dal turismo

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L’attuale pandemia rappresenta una minaccia senza precedenti per la conservazione della fauna selvatica. La speranza per tutti i partner del progetto è quella di poter continuare la missione di salvataggio

Fatu, one of the only two remaining female northern white rhino, sits in a mud bath on March 20, 2018 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of capital Nairobi.
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, has died in Kenya at the age of 45, after becoming a symbol of efforts to save his subspecies from extinction, a fate that only science can now prevent. / AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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E non c’è tempo da perdere visto che i cuccioli di rinoceronte bianco del Nord, che si spera nasceranno grazie al progetto, dovranno crescere in compagnia di Najin e Fatu. Ma Najin si sta avvicinando alla vecchiaia

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Najin (L) and Fatu, the only two remaining female northern white rhinos graze in their paddock on March 20, 2018 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of capital Nairobi.
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, has died in Kenya at the age of 45, after becoming a symbol of efforts to save his subspecies from extinction, a fate that only science can now prevent. / AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Tutto questo è stato reso possibile anche grazie al sostegno del Kenya Wildlife Service e del Ministero del Turismo e della Fauna Selvatica del Kenya ed è parzialmente finanziato dal Ministero Federale Tedesco dell'Istruzione e della Ricerca

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