a b "Last Chance to Survive: Northern White Rhino Conservation Project" (PDF). Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2012 . Retrieved 7 December 2014. Covid-19 thwarted BioRescue’s 2019 momentum, disrupting travel and diverting science funding. They wondered if they would be able to harvest more egg cells from Fatu and the aging Najin and get them to a laboratory in Italy during a global pandemic. Mutisya called that decision a painful one, but says that "the sperms which we have stored in the lab gives us hope that one day we can successfully develop an embryo that will rejuvenate a species." Years at the cold zoo left her with bent legs and a permanently altered posture that meant she could not carry a pregnancy to term. And veterinarians found that Fatu, the younger sister, had a problem with the lining of her uterus.

In delicate and simple language, we are introduced through the voice of the rhino to the death of his mother, his life in captivity and his reintroduction to the wild. But these are the bones of the story. The pictures capture the contrast between the naturalness of the bright life in the wild, shown in colour illustrations, and the very grey Shaun Tan-like dystopian cityscape, a world of shadows, where the rooftop zoo of captivity is based. The most stunning feature of the book is the layering of text on the surfaces of the animals and buildings in this environment, and on the shot dead mother rhino. This text is in many languages and Davies explains the sources in her introduction. Essentially the text is based on words and phrases from famous environmental speeches. The multilingual approach emphasises the universality of the need to engage with environmental issues.

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Northern white rhino: Last male Sudan dies in Kenya". BBC. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018 . Retrieved 20 December 2020. This story was inspired by the true story of Sudan, the last Northern White Rhino, who unfortunately died in 2018. Nichola Davies was inspired by the story of Sudan and the great efforts to help other animals that are endangered as well. In this story, we see the life of a male white rhino through his eyes--what he remembers about his home, others in his herd, his mother and her death, and the day he was brought in a “box” into captivity. We see that his world goes from fields of grass and flowers and inky skies filled with stars to a concrete enclosure with no smells or comfort at all. He looks around him and sees others who are also the last one of their kind--giraffe, monkey, bear, and bird. One day, he again awakens in a cage, but this time he is in a land that is familiar to him. He is home and he is free to roam in the fields and under stars as he did when he was younger. I'm one of a kind," Sudan said on his Tinder profile. "No, seriously, I'm the last male white rhino on the planet earth. I don't mean to be too forward, but the fate of my species literally depends on us getting together." Meeting Sudan in Czechia changed the trajectory of my life. Today my work doesn’t focus only on the human condition. Rather, I tell stories about nature, and in so doing, I tell stories about our home, our future, and the interdependence of all life.

I think of Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault, or as some call it – the Doomsday Vault. I imagine the analogous sperm and oocyte bank of endangered species, a frozen Noah’s Ark, where embryos from Fatu and Suni join embryos from vaquitas, cheetahs and Right Whales. A so-called Bio Bank.Mwenda recalls a day three years before Sudan was euthanized. “I was standing with him out in the field, feeding him bananas. I enjoyed looking at his lovely face. I think he was feeling good. But then I looked at him and saw he was dropping tears. I know scientists will say that rhinos do not cry. But I think maybe he was feeling empty. I laid my hands on him. After that day, I decided it was not about taking selfies with rhinos and making a photo about the last of a species. It’s about making meaning. I told Sudan I would become his voice when he was gone.” Moshiri, Nazanine (4 January 2014). "Meeting the Northern white rhinos". Aljazeera. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015 . Retrieved 7 December 2014. Lazarová, Daniela (25 September 2014). "Dvůr Králové Zoo spearheading international efforts to save northern white rhino from extinction". Radio Prague. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Because Anthony does not accomplish any of his goals for the rhinos. Absolutely everything goes badly wrong, often causing physical reactions in this reader. To top it all off, before the book was published, Lawrence Anthony passed away, and the animals lost their incredible champion. We're still here, and we need to step in for them because, incredibly, these half-ton, armored creatures with giant swords on their heads can't defend themselves from human greed. There's still a chance to turn this sad story around for the remaining rhinos.