(Newswire.net — October 21, 2014) — Rangers in Kenyan wildlife conservancy found the northern white rhino male lifeless in his hut, there is only one left in the world. Suni is one of only seven northern whites left in the world, all of which live in captivity. There are none known to be left in the wild.
There is only one breeding male left, said the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in a statement. Now the conservationists have but one male and two females that can breed, however, that doesn’t happen often. When Suni mated with female Najin in April 2012, it was her first time in ten years. They mated several times since, but no offspring.
“We will persevere in the hope that our efforts will one day result in the successful birth of a northern white rhino calf.” wrote Ol Pejeta conservationists in a statement. If not, northern white rhinos will be extinct as a species.
There is a related subspecies call the southern white rhino, but It too was nearly extinct. However, conservation efforts have raised its numbers to 20,000, the World Wildlife Fund said.
Valuable on the market as a hunting souvenir, the white rhino’s horn is the main reason there aren’t many left on the planet. “It’s a sorry testament to the greed of the human race.” said WWF.
There is a popular theory of the origins of the name “white rhinoceros” that says it is a mistranslation from Dutch word “wijd”, which means “wide”, explaining the rhino with the wide mouth. The other theory, with the narrow pointed mouth, was called the black rhinoceros.
Ironically, Dutch (and Afrikaans) later used a calque of the English word, and now call it a white rhino too.
However, Dutch and Afrikaans literature about the rhinoceros newer showed any evidence that the word “wijd” was ever used to describe the rhino outside of oral use.
Other popular theories suggest the name comes from it’s wide appearance throughout Africa, its color due to wallowing in calcareous soil or bird droppings or because of the lighter color of it’s horn.