This article has been adapted from a press release written on the 3rd May by Jan Stejskal, Director of Communication and International Projects at Dvůr Králové Zoo

In December 2015 an international group of scientists gathered in Austria. Their discussion could easily be the plot for a disaster movie - how to use the latest, cutting-edge technology to bring a subspecies back from the very edge of extinction. They were of course talking about the northern white rhino - the last three of which live under 24 hour protection on Ol Pejeta.

The results of this historic meeting have now been published in the international Journal Zoo Biology. The publication of this work is part of an ongoing global campaign to raise awareness on the extinction crisis facing rhinos and many other species, while also reaching out to the scientific community to share and gather information.

“The effort to save the northern white rhinoceros will need new technologies, new approaches and problem-solving in order to avert its imminent extinction” said Joseph Saragusty, andrologist for the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin. “The productive engagement of an international multidisciplinary team of experts will be essential to accomplish the ambitious goal of bringing back the northern white rhinoceros from its otherwise certain path to extinction.”

Plans to save the northern white rhino include using advanced technologies in genetics and cell biology, none of which have been tested in rhinos. Discussions in Vienna also touched on the scientific ethics of the project, and the importance of long term strategic thinking and ongoing communications. A key element of these discussions was the need to maintain genetic banks of frozen tissue, spermatozoa and oocytes to use as materials in this fight against extinction.

“Cryobanked genetic resources from this unique form of rhinboceros have been saved in San Diego and in Europe.” Said Oliver Ryder, geneticist for San Diego Zoo Global. "The genetic resources in the form of banked viable cell cultures, tissues and spermatozoa, together with the capability to establish induced pluripotent stem cells are the basis for hope that a viable population of northern white rhinoceros can be produced."

With some genetic tissue from northern white rhinos available the group is looking at advanced reproductive technologies as the hope for the future of the species.

"It was a long way from the idea to the roadmap created in Vienna. I am glad that we found so many competent supporters in the scientific community who believe in the application of advanced cellular and reproductive technologies for the genetic rescue of the northern white rhinoceros. Now we have to demonstrate that this novel strategy can make a difference" said Thomas Hildebrandt, head of the Reproduction Management department at IZW.

In addition to sharing information about reproductive technologies the group of experts discussed the ethics of spending resources to save one species. The paper voices the hope that the information gathered through this effort would be applied towards other species facing the threat of extinction in the future.