(Web Desk) - Northern white rhinos are considered extinct, with only two females still alive, but scientists believe a new IVF treatment could save the species.
A team at the BioRescue project, an international consortium of scientists and conservationists, believes in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment can bring the animals back.
IVF treatment is well-established for humans and domesticated animals like horses and cows, but this marks the first time scientists successfully used IVF on rhinos.
The team performed the procedure on southern white rhinos, which are cousins of the northern group.
BioRescue said it still has living cells from 30 northern white rhinos stored in liquid nitrogen and intends to use them for future IVF treatment for its endangered cousin.
'It has been completely uncharted territory, and anything from the approach over procedure protocols to required equipment had to be invented, developed, tried, and tested to be safe for use,' said Thomas Hildebrandt, head of the BioRescue project.
BioRescue achieved the world's first rhinoceros pregnancy by transferring a lab-created embryo using southern white rhinos, which still have a population in the thousands.
Scientists used the embryo from a southern white rhino and implanted it in a surrogate mother at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya in September.
The sperm originated from a male southern white rhino from the Zoo Salzburg in Hellbrunn, Austria, and the embryo taken from Elenore, a southern white rhino living at the Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium.
BioRescue announced that 70 days after they implanted the fertilized egg, the southern white rhino became pregnant with a male, but tragedy struck when a storm swept through the area, releasing a bacteria called Clostridia into the air, which can be fatal to animals.
The rhinos were killed in the storm, but scientists concluded that if he female had made it, its offspring had a 95 percent chance of survival.
It took the scientists 13 attempted embryo transfers for rhinos before they achieved a successful IVF pregnancy.
The remaining two northern white rhinos, Najin and Fatu, were brought to the conservancy to protect them from illegal poaching.
Both animals are heavily protected, with armed guards stationed around them night and day.
The two females are unable to carry a pregnancy because of their age and health problems, so the scientists determined that they will implant the embryo inside a surrogate southern white rhino.
The team said the pregnancy's success gives them hope that they will achieve the same level of success with the northern white rhinos.