BioRescue – Advanced reproductive technologies for saving critically endangered mammals like the northern white rhinoceros

With a remaining population of two females worldwide, the Northern White Rhinoceros is acutely threatened with extinction. A research team wants to prevent the worlds' rarest large living mammal from disappearing. The pioneering project BioRescue relies on innovative reproductive technologies in its attempt to secure the survival of this species. The BMBF is funding BioRescue with a total of up to around 6 million euros.

White rhinos (Southern and Northern) are the largest rhinos and the third largest land mammals on earth. The Northern White Rhino subspecies is considered extinct in the wild. The last two living females live in human care. With assisted reproduction and other innovative biomedical approaches, the research team is working on a solution for the survival of the Northern White Rhino.

By 2023, the project has already been able to create 24 Northern White Rhino embryos in the laboratory, using egg cells from the last two living females and frozen sperm of already deceased bulls. These embryos will eventually be carried to term in surrogate mothers of the Southern White Rhino, which is currently not acutely threatened with extinction.

The experience gained and techniques tested in the project will contribute to the rescue of other highly endangered mammal species in the future. By scientific standards, BioRescue is extremely ambitious. An accompanying study will address ethical issues associated with the use of reproductive technologies.

BioRescue's interdisciplinary and international scientific consortium brings together leading experts from the following institutions from Europe, Africa and Asia:

• Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in the Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (Coordination)
• Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
• AVANTEA, Laboratory of Reproductive Technologies, Italy
• Safari Park Dvůr Králové, Czech Republic
• Università degli studi di Padova, Italy
• Kyushu University, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Japan

The BMBF is funding the BioRescue project with a total of up to around 6 million Euros over a period of six and a half years. BioRescue is one of the first projects to be funded under the Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA). As such, it is one of the so-called "immediate measures" and complements the BMBF's research approach for the protection and conservation of species, which focuses on precautionary measures.