The northern white rhino may become extinct in the wild. But not all hope is lost

claim:

As of June 2025, after the white rhinoceros in the north became extinct, the rhinoceros in the north became extinct.

grade:

It's true:

The northern white rhino was extinct in the wild in 2008. In 2018, the last male northern white rhino died in a protected area project in Kenya. The only two remaining are Najin and Najin and Fatu. They themselves cannot ensure the survival of their species…

What's uncertain:

…However, new efforts to cultivate northern white rhinos through in vitro fertilization have made people hope to bring the species back from the edge. Scientists have managed to create and freeze 35 northern white rhino embryos that they hope to implant into female southern white rhino, the closest cousin to the northern white rhino. Whether the project will be successful remains to be seen.

In June 2025, there were rumors that the northern white rhino was now extinct.

For example, in a Facebook article conveyed the following claim: The existence of “55 million years” species cannot “survive humans” and is now “extinct” (archive):

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1015200700782119&set=A.5499950833973777

As of this writing, the post has received 154,000 responses and 62,000 attention. The people in the comments expressed sadness and concern. Other Facebook posts spread the rumor further, with some saying the animal was “official” rather than “functionally” extinct. Additionally, SNOPES readers searched the website for confirmation that it was true.

Snopes found that the northern white rhino was indeed extinct in the wild – although two female specimens survived in Kenya's wildlife reserves. For all these reasons, we evaluate the claim that the northern white rhino extinction is a mixture of real and false information.

There are two types of white rhino: the northern white rhino and the southern white rhino. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the group classifies species through hazardous status, with white rhinos in the north suffering severely endangered and likely extinct in the wild. One major reason is poaching due to the high demand for diagonals in Asia (especially China and Vietnam). Meanwhile, the southern white rhino was almost threatened, with 10,080 remaining.

According to IUCN, the fact that IUCN chose a “severely endangered” status rather than a “wild extinction” status is related to the fact that no white rhino in the north has been found in the wild. In the wild, they have been worried that they are extinct since 2008.

In 2018, the only two Northern White Rhinoceroses, a 45-year-old male northern rhino in Kenya, died in a conservation project in Kenya.

But a new scientific effort hopes to bring species back from the brink of extinction. An international alliance of scientists leading a project called Biorescue is seeking to breed white rhinos from the north. At the time of writing, Fatu's eggs were collected from male northern white rhino males, who hoped to implant 35 embryos into female southern white rhino. (Neither Najin nor Fatu can carry the pregnancy for medical reasons.)

The team won awards for the project in 2023. So far, the team has not implanted a white embryo from the north, but they have successfully implanted a southern white rhino embryo from a southern white rhino. This is the first time this technology has been used on this rhino, which has allowed the biobank to hope that they can achieve this for northern white rhino embryos.

Source:

Almonds, Kyle. “There are only two northern white rhinos on Earth. A new breakthrough brings hope.” www.cnn.comJanuary 27, 2024, version. Visited on June 19, 2025.

—. “The life he lives: the last photo of a male northern white rhino.” www.cnn.comMarch 20, 2018, www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/03/world/last/last-rhino-cnnphotos/. Visited on June 19, 2025.

CNN, Joshua Berlinger. “The last male northern white rhino in the world died.” CNNMarch 20, 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/africa/last-male-white-white-rhino-dies-intl/index.html. Visited on June 19, 2025.

Davis, Josh. “The world's first rhino IVF can help save the northern white rhino.” www.nhm.ac.ukJanuary 24, 2024, www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/january/worlds-first-first-rhino-ivf- could-help-save-save-save-the-the-northern-white-rhino.html. Visited on June 19, 2025.

Emsley, Richard. “Red list of threatened species: ceratotherium simumssp.cottoni.” IUCN Red list of threat SpeciesName, January 6, 2020, www.iucnredlist.org/species/4183/45813838. Visited on June 19, 2025.

—. “Red list of threatened species: ceratotherium simumssp. Simum.” IUCN Red list of threat SpeciesName, January 6, 2020, www.iucnredlist.org/species/39317/45814320. Visited on June 19, 2025.

International Rhino Foundation. “White Rhino.” International Rhino FoundationSeptember 29, 2020, rhinos.org/about-rhinos/rhino-pecies/white-rhino/. Visited on June 19, 2025.

“The world’s first successful embryo transfer in rhino paves the way for saving the extinction of the northern white rhino – Leibniz Zoo and Wildlife Research Institute.” www.izw-berlin.deJanuary 24, 2024, www.izw-berlin.de/en/press-release/world-s-first-successful-embryo-embryo-transfer-transfer-in-rhinos-paves-the-way-for-saver-saving-the-the-the-northern-white-horthern-white–white-rhinos-rhinos-white-rhinos-fromincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentincentinctinctinctinctinctinctinctinctinctinction.html. Visited on June 19, 2025.

“Home | Biorescue.” biorescue.orgOctober 31, 2023, www.biorescue.org/en. Visited on June 19, 2025.