Death of Nola: Only Three Known Living Northern White Rhinoceroses

The San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research expects to implant northern white rhinoceros embryos from their Frozen Zoo in six southern white rhinoceros surrogate mothers within 10 to 15 years. The Institute finds support for the endeavor from the Center for Regenerative Medicine’s scientific expertise at Scripps Research Institute in nearby LaJolla and the Zoo’s financial commitment of $2,000,000. Six southern white rhinoceroses from South Africa get to call home 65 acres (26.30 hectares) of dry grasses and shallow ponds at the Zoo’s South Africa exhibit, Nola’s residence for 26 years, after her arrival in Escondido from the Czech Republic’s Dvůr Králové Zoo in Dvůr Králové nad Labem in 1986.

Scientists hope for successful in-vitro fertilization. 

The white rhinoceros genus is divided into two subspecies of respectively northerly and southerly African bio-geographies. Mammalogists judge assisted reproductive technologies of implants from eggs fertilized by preserved sperm more viable than mating between subspecies. They know of abnormalities when the mating is successful. The similar life cycles, natural histories, and physical appearances of the two subspecies lead mammalogists to hope for reconstituted populations in conservancies, parks, and reserves, if not in the northern white rhinoceros homelands of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Uganda, by the twenty-first century’s end.

Sudan, Najin, and Fatu make into a home under 24-hour armed guard a 70-acre (28.33-hectare) sanctuary at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. 

Nola needs to be remembered as:

• the orphan rescued at age two from poachers in Sudan and transported to the Czech Republic;
• the teenager befriending San Diego Zoo co-residents, the female Noti (died 2007) and the male Angalifu (died December 14, 2014 in Kenya at age 44 from cancer);
• the visitors’ favorite amiable 4,000-pound (1,800-kilogram) backscratch-lover with a horn curved in the “wrong” direction.

Nola’s last year on the Blue Marble offers a model of beauty, courage, and grace despite:

• battling bacterial, pelvic, and sinus infections;
• outliving all but three of her kind;
• suffering from abscesses on her right hip;
• surviving surgery on November 13, 2015, to drain recurring abscesses and remove 90 percent of the infection. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Nola's forward-curving larger front horn is described as Einiosaurus-like, for its reminiscence of distinctive nasal horn of northwestern Montana's herbivorous Einiosaurus dinosaur (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian stage, 83.6 to 72.1 mya).
Nola's horn and body will be preserved in off-exhibit area of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC (Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, "Horns and body of Nola the rhino to be preserved at Smithsonian," Phys.org, Nov. 25, 2015).
Nola's Einiosaurus-like larger front horn curves forward.: San Diego Zoo, via Facebook Nov. 22, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoZoo/posts/10153848577687147/; via Facebook Nov. 22, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10153848577687147&set=a.75926892146; via Facebook Nov. 22, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoZoo/photos/a.75926892146.75595.28896772146/10153848577687147/Nola: portrait on Tuesday, July 10, 2012

San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Escondido, northern San Diego County, Southern California: Heather Paul (warriorwoman531), CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/warriorwoman531/7663110350/

Nola: portrait on Friday, April 24, 2015
San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Escondido, northern San Diego County, Southern California: Jeff Keeton (JKeeton72), CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_White_Rhino.jpg

"San Diego Says Goodbye To Nola" (1:16) Jane Kennedy, Lead Keeper: Nola is truly the sweetest animal I've ever worked with....Nola's personality brings out the best in people....She knows every time we approach her, we're always approaching her with love.
Uploaded November 23, 2015, by The San Diego Union-Tribune to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVdVM_dncpE

"Spa Day for Rhino Nola" (1:03)
Uploaded February 21, 2015, by San Diego Zoo Safari Park to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fB5sMkSkvk

Nola: portrait on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Escondido, northern San Diego County, Southern California: Heather Paul (warriorwoman531), CC BY-ND 2.0, Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/warriorwoman531/7663289898/

Associated Press. 22 November 2015. “Endangered White Rhino Dies at San Diego Zoo.” Fox News > U.S. Home > Regions. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/11/22/endangered-white-rhino-dies-at-san-diego-zoo/

Associated Press. 22 November 2015. “San Diego Zoo Keepers Are Devastated by the Death of Their White Rhino – Only 3 in the World Remain.” Business Insider > Science. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-endangered-white-rhino-dies-at-san-diego-zoo-2015-11

Chapman, Paul. 22 November 2015. “Rare White Rhino Dies in U.S.” Reuters > Video > Top News. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.reuters.com/video/2015/11/23/rare-white-rhino-dies-in-us?videoId=366420008&videoChannel=1#ej7UErQj4eCmpa5r.97

City News Service. 22 November 2015. “White Rhino Dies at San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Only 3 Left in the World.” San Diego 6 > News > Local. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/White-rhino-dies-at-Safari-Park-only-3-left-in-the-world-352959391.html

Durando, Jessica. 23 November 2015. “Now There Are Only 3 of These Rhinos on Earth.” USA Today Network. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/11/23/white-rhino-san-diego-zoo-safari-park-dead/76253456/

“Endangered White Rhino Dies at San Diego Zoo.” King5 > News > Local > Pets and Animals > November 22, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/pets-and-animals/2015/11/22/endangered-white-rhino-dies-at-san-diego-zoo/76221204/

“Endangered White Rhino Dies at San Diego-area Zoo.” SF Gate > News > November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34897767

Homer, Aaron. 23 November 2015. “White Rhino Dies: Nola, One of Four Remaining Northern White Rhinos, Dies at San Diego Zoo.” Inquisitr > News & Politics > Animal News. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.inquisitr.com/2586038/white-rhino-dies-nola-one-of-four-remaining-northern-white-rhinos-dies-at-san-diego-zoo/

Hunter, Marnie. 23 November 2015. “White Rhinos Closer to Extinction When ‘Nola’ Dies at San Diego Zoo.” CNN > News > U.S. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/22/us/nola-white-rhino-dies-san-diego-zoo-feat/index.html

“Northern White Rhino Dies in US, Leaving Only Three Alive.” BBC > News > US & Canada > 23 November 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34897767

Platt, John R. 22 November 2015. “Northern White Rhino Dies, Leaving Just Three on the Planet.” Scientific American > Extinction Countdown. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/northern-white-rhino-three/

Price, Shawn. 23 November 2015. “Northern White Rhino Dies at San Diego Safari Park; Only Three Others Remain.” United Press International, Inc.  > Science News. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/11/23/Northern-white-rhino-dies-at-San-Diego-Safari-Park-three-of-the-species-remain-in-existence/8891448240875/

“Rare White Rhino Dies in US.” Phys.Org > Biology > Plants & Animals > November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://phys.org/news/2015-11-rare-white-rhino-dies.html

“Rare White Rhino Dies in U.S., Only Three Remain.” Discovery > News > Animals > Endangered Species > November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/rare-white-rhino-dies-in-us-only-three-remain-151123.htm

Stack, Liam. 22 November 2015. “Endangered White Rhino Nola Dies at San Diego Zoo Safari Park.” The New York Times > Environment. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/science/earth/white-rhino-nola-dies-san-diego-zoo-safari-park.html?_r=0

“These Are Photos of the World’s Last Three Surviving Northern White Rhinos.” The Sydney Morning Herald > Environment > Animals > November 24, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

• Available @ http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/endangered-northern-white-rhino-dies-at-california-zoo-three-remain-worldwide-20151123-gl5ije.html