A southern white rhino was born at the California zoo in San Diego through artificial insemination. This scientific achievement could eventually make it possible to save a subspecies « cousin », the northern white rhinos.
Mother Victoria and her little one, a male, are doing well, the animal facility said in a statement.
Today only two northern white rhinos remain on Earth and both are females. The last male died last year.
The wild population of white rhinos in the South is estimated at about 18,000, but poachers are rapidly decreasing it in southern Africa.
The successful artificial insemination of Diego Zoo, a first in North America, therefore offers hope.
Scientists hope that the technique will one day allow a female white southern rhino to carry a small northern cousin through insemination of frozen sperm.