White Rhinoceros – the World Second-largest Land Mammal Animal
By Adnan Mahfuz Tazvir
White Rhinoceros is the world’s second-largest land mammal animal in the world. It falls behind only the two larger extant species of elephant. White Rhinoceros also have known a squared-lipped rhinoceros. Their scientific name is “Ceratotherium simum.”
The name of rhinoceros has come from a word of West Germanic language “weit,” which means “wide” and refers to the animal’s mouth. It has a square upper lip with almost no hair.
Now, it is a matter of sorrow that the sing of the existence of white rhinoceros is on the road of extinction. From history, it is known that during the colonial era, people used to hunt white rhinos; on the other hand, presently, the poaching for their horn is the main reason for their extinction.
The white rhinos are comparatively less aggressive and live in herds, so the white rhinos are particularly vulnerable to poaching.
Mainly, there two subspecies of white rhinoceros. One is Northern white rhinoceros, and the other one is southern white rhinoceros. They are found in several countries in East and Central Africa of the Sahara.
Today, only two female white rhinoceros are life, which is protected round the clock by armed guards. The last male white rhinoceros ‘Sudan’ died due to poor health.
The two female white rhinoceros belong to Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. But to protect it from extinction, it should keep in the in-situ Conservation in Kenya.
‘Sudan,’ the last male white rhinoceros was 45 years old and breathed it last on 19 March 2018. It was kept in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya.
Najin and Fetu are the two female northern white rhinoceros left in the world. Najin was born in captivity in Dvůr Králové Zoo in 1989. It is 31 years old. Her mother was Nasima, and her father was Sudan. Her daughter’s name is Fetu.
Now they live under 24 hours full security of armed guard in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya’s central highlands. Since, after the death of Sudan, there was fear of extinction of the white rhinoceros just because two females cannot carry the pregnancy.
But on 11 September 2019, Scientists have successfully fertilized in vitro embryos, which was collected from Najim and Fetu. The international scientists also received frozen sperms from Sudan’s dead body. The embryos are stored in liquid nitrogen to transferred into a surrogate mother in the future.
Rhinoceros are called the remarked species, as they are playing an essential role in the ecosystem, and without their habitant, a vast effect will fall on our environment. As they regularly dine, there are nearly 20 percent more grazing lawns in the background.
So, it is our foremost responsibility to save the extinct animals from extinction, to help nature to bear its own identity.
