There are just two female northern white rhinos left on the planet – the starkest illustration of how badly things have gone wrong for the natural world.
Scientists plan to implant fertilised eggs in them both this year – a last chance to bring these majestic creatures back from the brink of extinction.
One million species out of eight million are currently at risk of dying out thanks to poaching, hunting and habitat destruction.
But their future has been given a huge boost thanks to Europe’s first ever “biobank” which will indefinitely store the cells belonging to critically endangered animals.
Known as Nature’s SAFE, it will store cells from animals including the Amur leopard, black rhino and mountain chicken frog, in cryogenic tanks in the UK.
Working in conjunction with Chester Zoo, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the University of Oxford, the project has already banked cells from 17 species.
The process works by collecting cell tissue samples when an animal dies or has an operation, which are frozen at -196C.
When thawed, the cells “wake up” and regenerate enabling them to be used for artificial reproduction.
The team is now racing against the clock to secure tens of thousands of cells from animals under threat, such as the eastern gorilla, sea otter and Asiatic black bear.
The charity’s co-founder, Tullis Matson, runs Stallion AI Services, which has been praised for saving one of Britain’s rarest horse breeds through an innovative process of sexing semen.
“If we lose biodiversity we lose virtually everything on this planet, including ourselves, that’s how serious it is,” he said.
“We’ve got to have some way of saving these animals from disappearing, this is just one tick in the toolbox,” he added.
