Eggs from Ans — a 4,190-pound southern white rhino – have been successfully harvested from Beekse Bergen safari park located in the southern Netherlands. The next step pfr the team is to inseminate the eggs. Then they will be freeze them followed by the fertilized eggs’ placing in “surrogate mother” rhinos. This is what the zoo has informed in a statement.
But, it does not seem to be an easy task, removing eggs from a rhinoceros that tips the scales at nearly two tons! Growing to around 6,000 pounds, the white rhinos, possess two horns, and are considered as one of world’s largest land animals after elephants. Assisted by other experts’ team during the eggs’ harvesting procedure, Jacques Kaandorp, a veterinarian said,
It’s not a job you want to try on your own.
The team had to anesthetize Ans and lay on her side in an enclosure before they could remove the eggs from her ovaries, Kaandorp explained.
This white rhino egg-harvesting is believed to have been done successfully for the first time. This egg harvesting technique could one day be used on northern white rhinos as well. The northern white rhinos are in the Red List as being considered to be critically endangered. They are just a handful left in the wild.
The experts are keeping their fingers crossed to see the lucky surrogate mothers, looking forward to an 18-month pregnancy. Once successful, they will be giving birth to a 145 pounds calf.
Photo: AP/Persburo Van Eijndhoven