SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — Just in time for World Rhino Day on Sept. 22, the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research made a special announcement Tuesday. A second of the six southern white rhinos living at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is pregnant as the result of artificial insemination, according to researchers.
10-year-old Amani was made pregnant using sperm from a male southern white rhino named J Gregory. Researchers say the pregnancy is important to their ongoing work “to develop scientific knowledge required to genetically recover the northern white rhino, a close relative of the southern white rhino.”
In May, researchers announced the pregnancy of another of the southern white rhinos named Victoria, also through artificial insemination.
Only two northern white rhinos currently remain on Earth and both are female, according to researchers.
“Many months of intensive animal training, reproductive research and veterinary care resulted in these two ongoing pregnancies from artificial insemination,” said Barbara Durrant, Ph.D., Henshaw endowed director of reproductive sciences, San Diego Zoo Global. “We are following Victoria and Amani closely, continuing to gather critical information about early fetal development and the endocrinology of rhino pregnancy. The team is anxiously awaiting the arrival of our very special babies!”
The six female southern white rhinos were relocated to the Safari Park in 2015 from private reserves in South Africa. Researchers say artificial insemination of rhinos has rarely been attempted in zoos, and only a few births have resulted from this procedure in the past.
Rhino gestation lasts from 16 to 18 months. The artificial insemination of Amani occurred July 12 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
If Amani and Victoria are able to carry their pregnancies to term, the first southern white rhino calves born at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center could arrive in late 2019.
See below for pictures of mom-to-be Amani and video of all six rhinos arriving at the Safari Park in 2015. [Courtesy of San Diego Zoo Global]
Amani is given an ultrasound.
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