RapportFondation_2026_V03 Pages LIGHT EN - Flipbook - Page 58
Supporting scienti昀椀c research
2025 REPORT
KENYA
Let’s pave the way to save
the Northern white rhinoceros
AMOUNT COMMITED TO DATE: WE CONTRIBUTE
THROUGH THE TIME AND COMMITMENT OF OUR TEAMS.
2021 > PRESENT
The Pairi Daiza Foundation has been committed for several years to saving the Northern white rhino, a subspecies
represented by only two remaining individuals worldwide, both unfortunately unable to reproduce naturally.
The Foundation supports the BioRescue Project, a consortium of scientists working to save this subspecies using
advanced techniques such as in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer. The principle is to implant a Northern white
rhino embryo developed through in vitro fertilisation into a Southern white rhino acting as a surrogate mother.
This represents an immense scientific challenge. Although embryo transfer has long been successfully used in
humans and certain domestic animals, such as horses and cattle, applying this technique to rhinos required the
creation, development, testing and validation of entirely new procedures and equipment. The BioRescue Project
team designed specialised procedures and instruments capable of implanting a tiny embryo with extreme precision
into an animal weighing more than two tonnes.
© Jon A. Juárez
A prize-winning photograph from Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 (photojournalism category,
Natural History Museum, London), documen琀椀ng the 昀椀rst successful rhinoceros embryo transfer.
The embryo shown results from the pairing of Eleonore ‘Ellie’ (Pairi Daiza) and Athos (Salzburg Zoo).
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© BioRescue Project – Ami Vitale
