Despite these extraordinary efforts and the recent death of Sudan, the northern white rhino was functionally dead a long time ago. By this time, conservationists believed this was the last population of the northern white rhino. The future viability of the northern white rhino depends on interbreeding with southern white rhinos. Northern white rhinos produce offspring with southern white rhinos, vindicating the champions of subspecies status. “In this case, the northern white rhinos and southern white rhinos would be considered separate ESUs and MUs.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 25, 2018 12:33 UTC