Embryo transfer brings hope of averting extinction of white rhinos

Just two infertile female northern white rhinos — Fatu (right) and Najin (left) — remain, and are under 24-hour armed protection at a conservation reservation in Kenya. File photo: Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images

The critically endangered northern white rhino could be saved from the brink of extinction after scientists performed the first successful embryo transfer in white rhinos.

After the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018, the disappearance of the species looked imminent. Just two infertile female northern white rhinos — Fatu and Najin — remain, and are under 24-hour armed protection at a conservation reservation in Kenya.