Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 10, 2017

The Story Behind That Viral Photo of a Lonely Rhino

See more The tweet went viral on Nov. 6: a photo of a lone rhinoceros, resting with its chin on the dusty ground of a wooden enclosure. Accompanying the photo, the caption read, Want to know what extinction looks like? This is the last male Northern White Rhino. The Last....

Mar 1, 2018

This Is the World's Last Male Northern White Rhino — and He's Sick

The last male northern white rhinoceros is sick. Sudan, a 45-year-old rhino and the last male of his subspecies (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), is ailing in the wake of two infections on his back right leg, according to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the wildlife sanctuary in Kenya where the last three northern...

Mar 9, 2018

Can (and Should) the Northern White Rhino Be Saved?

The last male northern white rhinoceros is wallowing in the mud and grazing again after an age-related infection nearly spelled his end earlier this month. But although 45-year-old Sudan is still standing — for now — conservationists are debating whether his subspecies has a chance at survival. There are only...

Mar 20, 2018

Sudan, the Last Male Northern White Rhino, Has Died

Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where the rhino spent his last years, announced the death of the 45-year-old rhinoceros, saying that his health worsened to a point that he was suffering and unable to walk. Officials there made the decision to euthanize the rhino. He had been suffering from age-related...

Mar 20, 2018

Facts About Rhinos

Rhinoceroses are large, herbivorous mammals identified by their characteristic horned snouts. The word rhinoceros comes from the Greek rhino (nose) and ceros (horn). There are five species and 11 subspecies of rhino; some have two horns, while others have one. Because the animals' horns are used in folk medicine for...

Jul 16, 2018

Why 8 Endangered Rhinos Died in Mission to Save Them

A mission meant to save critically endangered rhinoceroses by transferring them to a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya has ended in tragedy, with the deaths of eight of the odd-toed ungulates, according to Kenya's Ministry of Tourism. But the culprit wasn't poaching. Rather, it was likely salty water, the ministry said....

May 28, 2019

Extinction Looms As Last Male Sumatran Rhino in Malaysia Dies

Malaysia's last male Sumatran rhino has died, leaving just one of the rhinos, a captive female, in the entire country, a region that was once replete with the two-horned beasts, news sources reported. Wildlife experts in the country captured the male — nicknamed Kretam, or Tam for short — in...

Sep 12, 2019

Lab-Made Embryos Could Save Northern White Rhinos After Last Male Dies

Just two northern white rhinoceroses exist in the world. Now, though, this critically endangered subspecies has a new, slim chance at survival: two lab-created embryos that could grow to maturity, according to an announcement made Wednesday (Sept.11). The international team of researchers has been working to save the northern white...

Nov 25, 2019

Malaysia Says Goodbye to Iman, Its last Sumatran Rhino

The last Sumatran rhino in Malaysia, a female dubbed Iman, died on Saturday (Nov. 23) at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia. Her death at age 25 marks the extinction of her species in that country and is a grim reminder of the animals' vulnerability; fewer than 80 wild...

Aug 25, 2020

A pup preserved in permafrost ate one of the last woolly rhinos on Earth

Just before a tiny pup died during the last ice age, it ate a piece of meat from one of Earth's last woolly rhinos. Researchers made this discovery while doing a necropsy (an animal autopsy) on the mummified remains of the ice age puppy. After finding an undigested slab of...

Oct 16, 2020

Only two northern white rhinos remain. And they're both female.

There were fewer than 100 southern white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum simum) a century ago. Today, there are over 20,000. Sadly, this success story only stretches as far as the southern subspecies of the white rhino. With the death of the last male in 2018, the northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum...

Feb 1, 2021

Embryos of Northern white rhino created. Will they save nearly extinct creature?

Two northern white rhino embryos have been created in a lab, bringing fresh hope that the animal could be saved from extinction. The two new viable embryos add to the existing stash of three, bringing the total number of viable embryos to five, BioRescue, an international consortium working to save...

Jan 31, 2024

1st-ever white rhino IVF sparks hope that 'doomed species' could still be saved, despite there being no males left

For the first time, researchers have successfully used a form of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to impregnate a female white rhinoceros. This breakthrough means there is a slim chance the doomed northern white rhino could still be saved, despite there being no known males left alive. Other critically endangered rhino species...

Oct 9, 2012

San Diego Panda Cub About to Sprout Baby Teeth

The San Diego Zoo's newest giant panda cub got another checkup Tuesday (Oct. 9) and vets say he's about to sprout some baby teeth. The 10-week-old cub weighed in at 7.3 pounds (3.3 kilograms) and measured about 20 inches (53 centimeters) from the tip of his nose to the tip...

Oct 11, 2012

National Zoo Panda Cub Died of Lung and Liver Damage

The week-old giant panda cub that died at the Smithsonian National Zoo last month suffered lung and liver damage, veterinarians announced Thursday (Oct. 11). The female cub, born Sept. 16, likely had an oxygen deficiency from inadequately formed lungs, which would have affected the newborn's liver function, according to a...