A rhinoceros is pregnant through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that conservationists said might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies.

In testing with another subspecies, the researchers created a southern white rhino embryo in a lab from an egg and sperm that had been previously collected from other rhinos and transferred it into a southern white rhino surrogate mother in Kenya on September 24, 2023. The surrogate is now 70 days pregnant with a well-developed 6.4 cm male embryo, the BioRescue consortium of scientists and conservationists. Pregnancies in rhinos last about 16-18 months.