Statement just released by the park: one step closer to the end.... It is with profound sadness we announce that 41-year-old Nola, one of only 4 remaining northern white rhinos, has died. Nola, who lived here since 1989, was under veterinary care for a bacterial infection, as well as age-related health issues. In the last 24 hours, Nola’s condition worsened and the animal care team made the difficult decision to euthanize her. We’re absolutely devastated by this loss, but resolved to fight even harder to #EndExtinction. We ask you to join us in that fight. Please share your memories of Nola and your condolences with the #Nola4Ever hashtag, and let this be a warning of what is happening to wildlife everywhere. #RIP sweet girl. You will be deeply, dearly missed
More on the sad passing of Nola. Northern white rhino dies at SD Zoo Safari Park | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com
The end of northern white rhinos in San Diego...and maybe the beginning? Big Arrivals at San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Six Southern White Rhinos Arrive from South Africa as Part of Rhino Conservation Initiative
Something that I posted to Facebook during the summer after I visited Nola: San Diego Zoo has frozen samples of 12 individuals that are not closely related. Their plan is to build a rhino conservation center at the Safari Park, import 6 young female southern white rhinos from healthy populations in South Africa and begin work on IVF. IVF in rhinos has never been successful. Once they have the technique worked out on the southern whites, they will then use the stored samples from the northern whites to implant into the southern whites. It is quite possible that this work will take 10 years to accomplish due to the fact that rhino gestation is about 15 months. 1 year to finish the conservation center (already under construction), 5 years to work out the IVF technique, and then 2 2-year cycles of rhino pregnancy. Why so much work? There is roughly a 1.1 million year separation between the northern and southern white rhinos (more than enough to classify them as separate species). The rough human equivalent of this is they are more divergent from one another than Homo sapiens is from H. neanderthalensis, H. heidelberensis, and H. antecessor. Another way of putting it is, they are roughly equivalent to the difference between Common Chimpanzees and Bonobos. If San Diego Zoo Safari Park is able to accomplish this task, then it will go down as the single greatest achievement in animal conservation human-kind has ever undertaken. It can only be achieved through the highest state-of-the-art technology: IVF, cloning, modern population management, zoos, and people who care. For me, it should be considered a crowning achievement of what the human species can do and should deserve a place alongside the works of Shakespeare, the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance artists, Beethoven's Symphonies, and the first flight by the Wright Brothers. But, that's a big IF.
I remember hearing someone say somewhere that there was talk that she would go to the Smithsonian, were they really considering that or was it just a rumor?
That's where her body is going.. Body of Nola, Zoo's White Rhino, Donated to Smithsonian for Research - Times of San Diego
I look forward to the day that most dead zoo animals are disposed of using alkaline hydrolysis instead; I think it is more environmentally friendly. I sincerely think that might someday happen. That said I'm glad Nola has been preserved for further study. I hope that parts of her will be displayed to the public now and again, even though it says that the remains that were sent there will not be on display.
