logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2022
23m 28s

Northern White Rhino: Functionally Extin...

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode

After spotlighting the Southern White Rhino, Amazing Wildlife explores a subspecies that’s functionally extinct, the Northern White Rhino. Functionally extinct means there is no chance for the current population, as it is, to naturally reproduce. Hosts Rick and Ebone detail what led to their critically endangered status and the factors that make it hard for the rhino to easily mate and reproduce. SDZWA Director of Reproductive Sciences, Barbara Durant, as well as SDZWA’s curator of the Frozen Zoo, Marlys Houck, join the show discuss the reproduction technologies scientists are using to preserve and maintain the Northern White Rhino genes to bring the subspecies back from extinction.

If you have a question for Amazing Wildlife you can send them to wildlife@iheartmedia.com for your chance to hear it on the show!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Aug 15
Parrots in Pine Forests – Meet the Thick-Billed Parrot
This week, hosts Rick and Marco are headed to Baja Garden in the San Diego Safari Park to speak with James Sheppard and Jenna Stallard about a brilliantly colored thick-billed parrot! While the thick-billed parrot used to be one of only two parrot species native to the United Sta ... Show More
35m 51s
Jul 31
Orchids: Resilient, Yet Endangered
The San Diego Zoo is home to several critically endangered species, and not just animals. We’re talking about plants, too! This week, hosts Rick and Marco speak with Zoo Horticulture Manager Christy Powell and Senior Plant Propagator Heinfried Block about orchids. You can find or ... Show More
37m 57s
Jul 18
Elephant Conservation
This week, hosts Rick and Marco speak with Dr. Kirstie Ruppert and Dr. Shifra Goldenberg about human and elephant conflict and coexistence. African elephants are invaluable to ecosystems and hold great cultural importance to Kenyans, but sometimes communities come into conflict w ... Show More
40m 30s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2022
The Rhinoceros
The Rhinoceros  Join us today as we learn about the second-largest land mammal, the rhino. Sources: https://www.britannica.com/animal/rhinoceros-mammal https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/rhinoceros https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/rhinoceros Send us listener mail! S ... Show More
4m 55s
Dec 2019
The Frozen Zoo
Right now, one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Conservation scientists are doing whatever they can to save them, or at least of piece of them. For the last 45 years, a team of researchers at the San Diego Zoo has been freezing the cells of endange ... Show More
28m 14s
Sep 2021
Playback: The Frozen Zoo
San Diego is home to the world’s first frozen zoo—a genetic library where scientists are racing to bank the tissues and stem cells of disappearing animals. As scientists begin to clone endangered species, we revisit an episode from our archives that delves into what conservation ... Show More
28m 59s
Aug 2019
Could Frozen Zoo DNA Stave Off Species' Extinction?
As human civilization encroaches on wild animals' habitats, some face extinction. Learn how researchers hope to someday use frozen DNA sample taken from zoo animals to replenish wild populations in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheart ... Show More
4m 40s
Nov 2021
Can southern Africa protect its rhinos?
Botswana has moved all remaining rhinos out of the Okavango Delta after a surge in poaching. More than 90 of the endangered animals were killed over the past two years. And it’s a similar story in other parts of southern Africa. Rhino horns are valuable on the international black ... Show More
13m 12s
Jun 2021
Test-tube rhinos
Scientists have hatched an incredible plan to save the northern white rhino from extinction. The team is using IVF techniques to produce a calf because the only two females left alive are infertile. Nick Holland reports on how close they are to succeeding and of their hopes to ev ... Show More
23m 29s
Nov 2020
Reshaping Nature Through Gene Drives
A new technology, called gene drives, has the power to spread any genetic instructions you wish across an entire animal or plant species in the wild. It might let us restore ecosystems ravaged by invasive species, or help species adapt to climate change. And, it might save millio ... Show More
1h 10m
Apr 2021
Saving the world's rarest marine mammal
In this episode, we’re delving into the topic of extinction. We'll be finding out about some of the animals who are critically endangered, meeting the people trying to rescue them, and exploring species who may be able to make miraculous comebacks.Perhaps one of the most endanger ... Show More
32m 7s