In Zoos
Most white rhinos in zoos are southern white rhinos; in 2001 it was estimated that there were 777 white rhinos in captivity worldwide. The San Diego Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California, USA previously had three northern white rhinos, all of which were wild-caught. Only a female named Nola, and a male named Angalifu remain after the second female, Nadi, died in late May 2007 from what was believed to be old age. Nola is not fertile, and Nadi was not behaviorally receptive, so this captive population is not breeding.
Angalifu is one of the last known male northern white rhino in existence. A collaboration was underway between the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Dvůr Králové Zoo in Dvůr Králové nad Labem, Czech Republic to provide Angalifu's semen to female Rhinos in captivity in the Czech Republic in a final effort to save this subspecies. So far the insemination attempts in northern white rhinos have failed and other methods are being considered.
Read more about this topic: White Rhinoceros
Famous quotes containing the word zoos:
“The zoo cannot but disappoint. The public purpose of zoos is to offer visitors the opportunity of looking at animals. Yet nowhere in a zoo can a stranger encounter the look of an animal. At the most, the animal’s gaze flickers and passes on. They look sideways. They look blindly beyond.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)