Northern White Rhinos on Verge of Extinction
There are only five northern white rhinos left in the world since the death of a 44 year old male named angalifu. San Diego Zoo safari park tweeted the news. He came to California from the Khartoum zoo in Sudan In August 1990. He died of old age. “Angalifu’s death is a tremendous loss to all of us,” park curator Randy Rieches said in a statement to AP. “Not only because he was well beloved here at the park but also because his death brings this wonderful species one step closer to extinction.”
They’re known as the square-lipped rhino, and they lived throughout Uganda, Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. They’re the second largest land animals (six feet and weight 3,600 kl). Hunters hunt them for their horns. They’re used as dagger handles and aphrodisiacs. The other five are found in zoos in San Diego and Czech Republic. Three are in Kenya. They hope to have the females breed more in a more natural setting. Mating with angalifu and Nola was unsuccessful. The male and female at Kenya won’t reproduce naturally.
