Google dedicates Doodle to Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros

On Sunday, 20 December 2020, Google dedicated its Doodle to Sudan, the last known male northern white rhinoceros.

Sudan was a captive northern white rhinoceros that lived between 1973 and 2018, it was euthanised on 19th March and was already suffering from age-related complications. The 45-year-old rhino became world-famous after scientists could not find any other living male of his subspecies.

20 December marks the day in 2009 when Sudan arrived in his new home at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Three other northern white rhinos accompanied him; Suni, Najin (his daughter) and Fatu his granddaughter.

Animal trappers employed by Chipperfield’s Circus had captured Sudan at the age of two in 1975 in Shambe, Sudan. This was where he got his name from.

Environmentalists have always argued that leaving northern white rhinos in nature is the best way to guarantee their continued survival. However, there has been one successful northern white rhino birth at the Dv?r Králové Zoo in 2000.

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Since then, no births have been recorded in a zoo. Before Sudan’s death in 2018, he had been not just the last surviving male but the last fertile one. Yet, besides his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu, Sudan has been unable to sire more offspring.

Also, while the iconic rhino had been ‘technically infertile’ many years before he died, there is still hope of breeding through him.

Dv?r Králové Zoo spokesman Jan Stejskal said after Sudan’s death; “We must take advantage of the unique situation in which cellular technologies are utilised for conservation of critically endangered species. It may sound unbelievable, but thanks to the newly developed techniques even Sudan could still have an offspring.”

There are also ongoing attempts at in vitro fertilization of eggs from Najin and Fatu with s*m*n from Sudan and to implant the resulting blastocysts in suitable female southern white rhinos.

This is the backstory behind Google’s Sunday rhinoceros Doodle. Interested researchers have raised several GoFundMe campaigns to ensure that the northern white rhinoceros does not go extinct.