Breeding Programmes

Breeding programmes are an essential tool in conservation. For some species, they offer a lifeline, supporting healthy, genetically diverse populations when numbers in the wild are falling or habitats are under threat. These carefully managed programmes can buy time while we tackle the bigger issues affecting wild populations. In some cases, they make it possible to return animals to places they’ve disappeared from entirely.

But it’s not just about breeding. Working closely with animals in a human care provides us with the opportunity to learn things we could never discover in the wild. We can study behaviour, test new techniques, and gather the kind of detailed information that feeds straight back into conservation efforts on the ground. Whether it’s improving reintroduction plans, supporting vet care in the field, understanding reproductive biology or how animals adapt to different environments, it all adds up to better outcomes for wildlife.

Longleat’s Rhinos’ Vital Role in Race to Save Northern White Rhino From Extinction

There are now only two remaining northern white rhino, both female and unable to carry offspring.

An ambitious project is taking place with a team of international scientists called BioRescue who are trying to save the species from imminent extinction using assisted reproductive technologies and stem-cell associated techniques. These techniques have been developed by trialling procedures with the closely related southern white rhino.

Longleat’s part in this first took place in 2017 when a series of egg collections was carried out from our three female rhinos.

The team from BioRescue returned in November 2021 to once again collect eggs from our rhino as the project gets closer to it's goal.

We catch up with some of the team in this video:

The hope is to eventually be able to implant northern white rhino embryos into surrogate southern white rhinos. The Northern white rhino project is an international project involving many scientists and conservationists.  

The northern white rhino is a subspecies of white rhino, which used to range over parts of Uganda, Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Years of widespread poaching and civil war in their home range have devastated northern white rhino populations, and they are now considered to be extinct in the wild.

The two surviving northern white rhinos Fatu and Najin, both females, live under 24-hour armed guard on the 360 km² Ol Pejeta Conservancy, near Mount Kenya.

Sudan, the last surviving male northern white rhinoceros, died of an age-related illness at Ol Pejeta on the 19th of March, 2018.

If the treatment proves successful it is hoped it could also be used, alongside conservation programmes, to help boost numbers of other highly endangered species.

Watch how the team got on for their first visit to Longleat back in 2017.

For more information on BioRescue please click here