“The effort to save the northern white rhinoceros will need new technologies, new approaches and problem-solving in order to avert its imminent extinction.” Said Joseph Saragusty, D.V.M., Ph.D., andrologist from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin, Germany. “The productive engagement of an international multidisciplinary team of experts will be essential to accomplish the ambitious goal of bringing back the northern white rhinoceros from its otherwise certain path to extinction.”

The discussion to save the northern white rhinoceros touches on genetics and cell biology, scientific ethics and the importance of long term strategic thinking and ongoing communications. A key element of these discussions was the need to maintain genetic banks of frozen tissue, spermatozoa and oocytes to use as materials in this fight against extinction.

“Cryobanked genetic resources from this unique form of rhinboceros have been saved in San Diego and in Europe.” Said Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., geneticist for San Diego Zoo Global. "The genetic resources in the form of banked viable cell cultures, tissues and spermatozoa, together with the capability to establish induced pluripotent stem cells are the basis for hope that a viable population of northern white rhinoceros can be produced."

With some genetic tissue from northern white rhinos available the group is looking at advanced reproductive technologies as the hope for the future of the species.

"It was a long way from the idea to the roadmap created in Vienna. I am glad that we found so many competent supporters in the scientific community who believe in the application of advanced cellular and reproductive technologies for the genetic rescue of the northern white rhinoceros. Now we have to demonstrate that this novel strategy can make a difference" Said Thomas Hildebrandt, Prof. Dr., head of the Reproduction Management department at IZW.

The last three northern white rhinoceroses reside in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where they were transported from ZOO Dvůr Králové, Czech Republic. "Although we were able to breed the northern white rhinoceroses in our zoo, their health status does not allow them to breed naturally anymore. We are now optimistic that the cutting-edge research outlined in Vienna will give these very last specimens a chance to see an offspring of their own kind." Said Jan Stejskal, Director of International Projects of ZOO Dvůr Králové.

In addition to sharing information about reproductive technologies the group of experts discussed the ethics of spending resources to save one species. The paper voices the hope that the information gathered through this effort would be applied towards other species facing the threat of extinction in the future.

Link to the article published in Journal Zoo Biology

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/zoo.21284/abstract

Publication:

Saragusty J1, Diecke S2, Drukker M3, Durrant B4, Friedrich Ben-Nun I5, Galli C6,7,8, Göritz F1, Hayashi K9, Hermes R1, Holtze S1, Johnson S10, Lazzari G6,8, Loi P11, Loring JF5, Okita K12, Renfree MB13, Seet S1, Voracek T14, Stejskal J15**, Ryder OA4*, Hildebrandt TB1* (2016): Rewinding the process of mammalian extinction. ZOO BIOL; DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21284

* These two authors are of equal seniority

** All co-authors other than the first and the two senior authors are listed by alphabetic order

Affiliations:

1.Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany

2.Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert Rössle Straße 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany.

3.Institute of Stem Cell Research, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Center Munich, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.

4.San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA 92027, USA.

5.Center for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

6.Avantea srl, Laboratorio di Tecnologie della Riproduzione, Via Porcellasco 7/F, 26100 Cremona, Italy.

7.Università di Bologna, Dipartimento Scienze Mediche Veterinarie, via Tolara di Sopra 50, 40064 Ozzano dell'Emilia, Italy.

8.Fondazione Avantea, Via Angelo Cabrini 12, 26100 Cremona, Italy 

9.Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Maidashi 3-1-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.

10.San Diego Zoo Global, PO Box 120551, San Diego, CA 92112-0551, USA 

11.Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Univeristy of Teramo, Campus Coste San Agostino, 64100, Teramo, Italy.

12.Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan

13.School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

14.Tiergarten Schoenbrunn, Maxingstraße 13 b, 1130 Vienna, Austria

15.ZOO Dvůr Králové, Štefánikova 1029, 544 01 Dvůr Králové nad Labem, Czech Republic