Northern white rhinoceros

Northern white rhinoceros
Angalifu, a male northern white rhinoceros at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Angalifu died of natural causes at the age of 44 on 14 December 2014.[1]

Critically endangered, possibly extinct in the wild  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Genus: Ceratotherium
Species:
C. simum
Subspecies:
C. s. cottoni
Trinomial name
Ceratotherium simum cottoni
(Lydekker, 1908)
  Extant and assisted colonisation (resident)
  Extinct
  Possibly extinct

The northern white rhinoceros or northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is one of two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the southern white rhinoceros). This subspecies is a grazer in grasslands and savanna woodlands. Formerly found in several countries in East and Central Africa south of the Sahara, since 19 March 2018, there are only two known rhinos of this subspecies left, named Najin and Fatu,[4] both of which are female; barring the existence of unknown or misclassified male northern white rhinos elsewhere in Africa, this makes the subspecies functionally extinct. The two female rhinos belong to the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic but live in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where they are protected by armed guards.

According to the latest International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessment from 2020, the subspecies is considered "Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild)."[2]

  1. ^ "A northern white rhino has died. There are now five left in the entire world". The Washington Post. 15 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b Emslie, R. (2020). "Ceratotherium simum ssp. cottoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T4183A45813838. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T4183A45813838.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  4. ^ Clare Spencer (13 April 2020). "Northern white rhinos: The audacious plan that could save a species". BBC News. Retrieved 13 August 2020.