All hopes lie on the world's last male northern white rhino

(28 Feb 2016) LEAD IN:
The northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction. Only three remain on the planet - and they are under 24-hour armed guard.
Now scientists are attempting IVF with surrogate females from a different subspecies in a race against time to keep the species alive.
STORY-LINE:
And then there were three.
This is Sudan, the world's last remaining male northern white rhino.
He lives at the Ol Pejeta conservancy in central Kenya along with two females, Fatu and Najin.
Since his fellow male Suni died last year, the fate of the northern white rhino species rests on Sudan's shoulders.
"There were two males and two females but we have lost one male, so we've got one male and two females," says keeper Zacharia Mutai.
There are no known northern white rhinos in the wild.
Sudan and the females are under 24-hour armed guard to protect them from poachers.
"Well securing Northern white rhinos entails us to be out for at least 14 hours per shift. So everyone is out at around six in the evening and the other shift takes over at 10 am the next morning. So everyone is out and dedicated to the northern white rhinos," says guard Paul Waweru.
Sudan got his name from his origin of birth, South Sudan.
Born in 1973 and captured in 1975, he was taken to a zoo in the Czech Republic where he stayed in captivity for decades.
He was brought back to Africa in 2009 for breeding together with three other rhinos - his current companions Fatu and Najin and the late male, Suni.
The rhinos are protected, fed and groomed, and they seem to have forged good relationships with the keepers and guards.
"He really enjoys being rubbed under the belly. Sometimes behind the ears. He's ok when he is being rubbed. And even sometimes we can use a brush to scratch him and he likes that," says Mutai.
Sudan is keen to mate, but there's a problem. At 43 years old, he's not as strong as he used to be.
His semen quality is not the best and neither is his ability to mount naturally.
Attempts to breed the rhinos have failed, so now the keepers are turning to desperate measures.
"Right now Sudan is too old, but he is looking for the females, but when we look at him the hind leg is weak of which he is not able to mount on the females, because it can't support itself, that's why it can't mate in a natural way, so but we have collected semen before for the use of IVF," says Mutai.
"Also one of the females - she has got the same problem like Sudan, the hind leg is bad, it's weak, so she can't be able to support herself when being mounted. So the only way we can do it is we can combine semen from the male and also collect eggs from the two females and plant (them) in a southern white rhino of which the southern white rhino would be a surrogate mother. It's just a way of trying to save them. If it works it will help to save this endangered species."
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy says this IVF procedure using a southern white female as a surrogate has never been done before, and is not without risks.
The remaining three northern whites are not getting any younger and could die before the procedure has been successfully developed.
Rhinos are native to South Sudan, Congo, Central Africa Republic and Chad, countries that have witnessed years of civil wars making conservation efforts futile.
This subspecies has been decimated by poachers who kill them for their horns.
The horns are in high demand in parts of Asia, where some people claim they have medicinal properties for treating everything from hangovers to cancer.
Theoretically stem cells can produce any body tissue.

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