Talk:Northern white rhinoceros

Conservation Status

The article states there are no existing in the wild, yet the status is still set to critically endangered, as opposed to EW.

+1 to this. Would someone please correct this issue? The template used in the infobox is fairly complex. Chicken-7 ^talk 06:39, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

The status depends on the issuing authority, and we follow the IUCN - it takes time for them to re-evaluate the status, but they always explain why do they keep it as stated, even if it appears unreasonable. Materialscientist (talk) 23:09, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

A Guardian article calls the rhino "functionally extinct" and a "zombie species". These are nice phrases and could be good here.Malick78 (talk) 18:27, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

Extinction status is always going to be slightly behind. I always understood the status on the right to be the IUCN status. Simply because the wild population has not been spotted for a few years does not mean they are indeed extinct. The status should be left to reflect the IUCN classification.

Phrases from news articles like "functionally extinct" and "zombie species" are not appropriate for the standard of Wikipedia. However, they could be incorporated in ways like: 'Despair over the poor captive breeding and population crash have led some to describe the Northern White Rhino as being a 'functionally extinct' 'zombie specie'." Of course the context of the article would have to be checked to make sure the inclusion was representative of both the article and representing a significant opinion (i.e. not just news spin).

Number of surviving animals

IRF says 5-10 animals remain in the wild but IUCN says only four could be located. This article reports both, giveing priority to the IRF numbers. Which is the better estimate and why? How recently was the IRF population estimate updated and how do they justify the numbers in excess of what was actually found in the latest survey? Verbivorous 03:04, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

It was an aerial survey done over a hostile country. I suppose they are assuming that they missed some. For what it's worth, the reason the translocation from Garamba hasn't occurred yet is because the DRC backed out. I don't think there will be any news articles about that, but it's common knowledge in the rhino community (ie, not citable here). Sheep81 17:24, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Since the two females at the San Diego Wild Animal Park are incapable of reproducing, I was thinking they could transport the male Rhino to the Czech zoo, or possibly bring the younger females from the Czech Republic to San Diego. If we're lucky this might be able to sustain the species for another generation or so.

I've also noticed one of the rhinos is the offspring of both Northern and Southern whites. If it's not possible to maintain the Northern subspecies, maybe we could at least keep their genes in existence through cross-breeding--Robert Treat (talk) 17:16, 6 August 2008 (UTC).

The article contradicts isteslf, the intro section states that there are 8 captive Northern White Rhinos and below it says that 9 are in captivity it is stated that this is a hybrid but the distinction is made unclear 71.112.4.245 (talk) 02:56, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I asked at the Dvůr Králové Zoo, and they e-mailed me that of their "SIX Norhtern ones (2.4) 4 or 5 are still capable of reproducing". I will try to ask at San Diego asap what is the situation there. --HTO (talk) 16:15, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Well than one of their males must have died. I will try to find which one (does anyone know already?). The situation in San Diego is that one female, named Nadi, died in 2007. Thus the possible 6 from the Czech Republic and now 2 in the United States make the total captive number at 8 as it says in the beginning of the article. More sadly is that these 8 may be the only ones left as surveys in 2008 failed to find any surviving wild ones. Peter Maas\^talk 10:31, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

I found it. The male Saut died in August 2006. See: [1]. Peter Maas\^talk 14:35, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

The north/south hybrid female Nasi died in 2008 "Uhynula v roce 2008".

The article is contradicting itself slightly again, though I'm guessing it's the wording. As of now, it says that there are 7 left in captivity, then goes on to say that 6 are in the Czech Republic and 2 others in the San Diego Zoo, which adds up to 8. It clarifies only later that one of them died. I'll just rearrange the sentences a little bit to make it clearer. Please correct if I mess anything up. Marchfur (talk) 14:23, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

I can find no source that says that Nabire's father was Arthur. This source [2] actually claims that Arthur is the father of Nasi, who is the hybrid, not Nabire, and Nabire is not a hybrid, being the daughter of Sudan and Nasima. When I went to the zoo there, they clearly labeled Nabire's pen as "Northern White Rhinoceros". This is a very important point-there are indeed seven Northern White Rhinoceros remaining, not six plus one hybrid.EpochVHS (talk) 08:52, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

Broken External Link

While trying to follow a link to a Times article cited as a reference(cite note #2 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4152951.ece), I was unable to access the relevant page. The article title does actually appear on the Times website search facility, but every new page I attempted to access kept popping up a subscribe screen which was killing my browser - so eventually I gave up without having accessed the article. Can somebody attempt to verify whether the Times story satisfies the references on the article page. Thanks. Peter b (talk) 04:18, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

prospects for the subspecies/species.

I just read, on the IUCN page for northern white rhinos, that the animal is deemed unsustainable even with human intervention due to the incredibly small gene pool. The main prospect seems to be conserving the northern white genes within a mixed north-south group with prospects of naturalisation in the future.

The article seems to give only a timeline of events regarding the remaining specimens. The information regarding the prospects 'would' require a new heading for the article but would make a step towards completeness. Will someone with a little more biological insight do this? 80.176.89.230 (talk) 17:19, 6 December 2013 (UTC)