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Cyrielle
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| Posted: Jul 5 2007, 06:18 PM |
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hello,
after the AI, they have to wait at least 40days to analyse the hormones of the females.
The Berlin team is hopefull for Najin because they took semen directly from Suni. For Fatu, they did it with frozen semen.
Sure i will keep in touch with my collegues from zoo and wait for, i hope, good news.
Thank you for your interest.
C.
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 7 2007, 09:42 AM |
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The future doesn't look good for the northern white it seems. But if the insemination at Dvur Kralove succeeds, we'll at least have one or two northern white rhinos to work with. I keep my fingers crossed. Ever since I saw white (southern) and black rhinos roam the plains of Africa I fell in love with these fascinating creatures. And as long as there are northern whites alive, we have to keep hoping and trying to save them, although it's getting really really urgent.
Irek, can you please keep us posted when you know the outcome of the insemination at Dvur Kralove?
And does anyone know if it's true if there are no longer northern whites in Garamba? Last I heard there were three males and one adult female left. If so, does anyone know what people are doing to safeguard them from poaching? Here's hoping that that last cow has he opportunity to give birth to some calves in her lifetime. Given the succes story of the southern white (at the beginning of the 20th century there were some 100 left) it seems such a waste that they couldn't pull this off with the northern subspecies.
Tom, Belgium
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 9 2007, 05:45 PM |
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Hi everyone,
I read one of the northern white rhino in San Diego died of old age. So now they are down to just a single bull.
Does anyone know if there are plans to move him from San Diego to Dvur Kralove? It seems strange to keep a single male alone in the States when he may be really needed in DK to enrich the gene pool there. Is it possibly too dangerous to fly the animal to Europe or is there another reason why they don't put all the remaining animals in one zoo for captive breeding? Is it likely that natural breeding would occur in DK when the San Diego bull is put in whit the two remaining females? And have they taken seemen from him already?
And what about the search for possible survivors in Garamba? Any news about that recently?
I'm crossing my fingers that we will see some baby northern whites in the near future. Please keep me posted here...
Greetings from Belgium,
Tom
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JJ_thomas
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| Posted: Jul 9 2007, 06:31 PM |
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Yes, I've read about it aswell. Seems to have happened more than a month ago though. Here's the news article:
Critically Endangered Rhino Dies At SD Animal Park
Indeed good question Tom, hope the remaining animal is transported to help the population.
Kind regards,
JJ
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adam
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| Posted: Jul 9 2007, 08:00 PM |
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There are actually two Northern Whites at San Diego, an elderly female (Nola I believe) and a male.
adam
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 9 2007, 08:58 PM |
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Hi JJ and Adam,
Thanks for the information. So the article states that the rhinos were transferred to San Diego in the hope of breeding the species there. But since the other female is also older and not capable of reproducing anymore it seems kind of a waste to keep the male (who is healthy and of breeding age) in SD where there is no chance of reproducing. There are only two captive females left who are capable of breeding and they are both in Dvur Kralove. Furthermore, almost all the animals at Dvur Kralove are related in some way. The San Diego male is not. So in my mind, logic dictates that they transfer the male back to Dvur Kralove (and sooner rather than later)...? Probably, if the artificial insemination is succesful, they will try to inseminate the females of DK with the SD sperm, but the chances are still not very good. Since the younger female at DK is still quite young, isn't it possible that it could breed with a new male in the natural way?
I'm just thinking out loud now. Obviously I'm not a rhino expert. Maybe there are good reasons to keep the male in SD. Does anyone have an idea? Maybe the transport (when the animal has to be sedated) is risky and they are afraid of loosing yet another animal?
I'm very intrigued by this breeding program to save the species. Their future looks so grim. But on the other hand: there are lots of conservation success stories with species on the brink, so maybe they will pull it off... (I'm thinking for instance of the New Zealand black robin where the population was down to 5 animals, just one single breeding pair left, and now there are more than 200 again in the wild). But birds do breed easier than our rhino friends don't they?
Greetings,
Tom
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JJ_thomas
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| Posted: Jul 9 2007, 09:34 PM |
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I totally agree with you Tom. And I don't even think it's necessary to sedate a rhino that has been in captivity for so long. I know the transport of Sumatran Rhinos goes quite well without sedating them. Offcourse a White Rhino is much larger, but I think it's possible.
(I also seem to recall a trick they use on elephants with live chicken hatchlings around their feet in the crate so the elephant won't move. Do rhinos do the same?)
But, if there are only 13 Northern Whites left is this sufficient to rebuild a larger population. Is a gene pool this small sufficient to create a large healthy group of animals?
JJ
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 18 2007, 05:24 PM |
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Hi Irek,
Any news yet from Dvur Kralove? Did any of the two northern white females get pregnant? When are they being tested to know if they are? I think it is about a month ago that they were inseminated, no?
Greetings from Belgium,
Tom
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adam
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| Posted: Jul 18 2007, 08:45 PM |
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I am not sure the plan with the animals at San Diego, but I will say there were less than 15 left at Garamba at one time, and they were able to bounce back to around 30, so I would think 13 individuals would be enough. As far as transfering the animal from San Diego it needs to be noted that it is a the Animal Park and is not in a "tradional" zoo making preparation for a trip a little more tricky.
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SDWAP
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| Posted: Jul 18 2007, 10:48 PM |
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Hi All!
I am one of many keepers that takes care of the rhinos at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. (1800 acres, 1500 mammals, of which we have eastern black rhino, NWR, SWR, and GOHA rhinos, 28 in all.) My friend Adam mentioned that you may be interested in why we are not going to move our bull Angalifu to Dvur Kralove.
Angi is approximately 35 years old, and has chronic arthritis. He is treated daily with cosequin for his stiffness and pain. He has been with breeding age females (including trying female SWRs) most of his tenure at the Park. He has never successfully bred a cow, and seems to have no interest in our females except for as company under a tree. We have successfully collected semen from him which is cryogenically preserved for future use. We recently sent a shipment to Druv Kralove, but it got lost in transport and was probably not viable by the time that the airlines got it to DK. We plan on collecting semen in the near future for shipment to DK. Angi is going back onto his beta-carotene regime to help increase his semen volume.
Additionally we need Angi as a cohort for our female NWR Nola. She is the female we tried to collect an ovary from earlier this year. Our female that died (primarily of old age) Nadi was her constant companion and we do not want to separate Angi and Nola at such an old age. If you have any more questions just let me know. We are doing our best to help these animals stay amongst us and not be an asterisk in a book. Jane
PS Feel free to see my talk (and others) from the last Rhino Keeper Workshop at our website rhinokeeperassociation.org
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 19 2007, 03:52 PM |
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Hi Jane,
Thank you so much for this information. I didn't know the animal was so old and had health problems. In light of that information, a transfer to DK doesn't seem like a good idea.
Are you in touch with Dvur Kralove? Do you know what's happening there of if there is any news about the two inseminated females?
Greetings,
Tom
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irek
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| Posted: Jul 20 2007, 03:19 PM |
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Hello
There is no news from Dvur Kralove. Not yet. We are collecting dung samples and do our best to keep ladies in good condition.
Best regards
Irek
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 20 2007, 03:56 PM |
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Thank you Irek and keep us posted. Take good care of the girls.
Greetings,
Tom
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SDWAP
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| Posted: Jul 20 2007, 07:49 PM |
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Tom and Irek,
You may want to consider joing the IRKA. We would get you contacts worldwide that work with the various species of rhinos. Our next conference is in Florida in 2009. Jane
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Tom
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| Posted: Jul 21 2007, 10:39 AM |
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Hi Jane,
Thanks for the offer, but I'm not a rhino keeper or someone that deals with rhinos in a professional way. I'm just a nature lover and rhino enthousiast and I like to follow the plight of these magnificent animals closely. Especially the precarious situation of the northern whites is of interest to me ever since I fell in love with their southern cousins when visiting Namibia, South Africa and Kenya.
I hope that you all can pull it off and save these unique animals. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. You're doing positive and important work.
Good luck,
Tom
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northern white rhinos
