Until recently there were only 3 viable embryos, so it is encouraging that these two new ones have be able to be created. There are currently just 2 remaining northern white rhino left. The last two both live at Ol Pejeta conservancy in central Kenya.
Northern white rhinos once ranged across north-western Uganda, southern Chad, south-western Sudan, the eastern part of Central African Republic and north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. At the beginning of the 1970s there were still 500, but this fell rapidly to 15, and unfortunately these have not done well.
Northern white rhino are similar to southern white rhino so embryos could be inserted into a surrogate to be carried to term. Whether the white rhino can every be properly returned to central Africa is still up in the air. What is clear, is that we wont know one way or another for a long time.
The southern white rhino reached a population of only 20 individuals in the early 20th century, so a recovery should not be ruled out. However it is clear that they are going to need much work from humans if Northern white rhinos are ever going to return to the wild in significant numbers.
