World's last male northern white rhino seriously ill, conservationists hope IVF will save extinction

The health of the world's last male northern white rhino, Sudan, has started to show signs of deterioration which indicates that the sub-species of rhinos are close to facing extinction. Sudan rose to fame after he was dubbed Tinder's "Most Eligible Bachelor in the World".

Taking to Twitter, Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy wrote: "So many people have supported the northern white rhinos since they arrived on Ol Pejeta in 2009, and we feel it is important to inform you that Sudan, the last male northern white rhino on the planet, is starting to show signs of ailing."

Sudan, who is 45-year-old, developed an uncomfortable age-related infection on his back right leg at the end of 2017, which was instantly taken care of by a team of vets around the world. Then he responded to the treatment and recovered soon.

Days after that, a second much deeper infection was discovered. But this time, it is taking longer than usual for him to recover.

"We are very concerned about him – he's very old for a rhino, and we don't want him to suffer unnecessarily," the Conservancy said in a statement.

A crowdfunding effort was also initiated to raise money to allow Sudan's sperm to be implanted in the world's last two northern white female rhinos. Hence, the scientists are keen to develop the IVF procedure in producing northern white rhino embryos.

Last year, Ol Pejeta Conservancy had collaborated with dating platform Tinder to raise fund and awareness about the dying species of rhinos. Sudan was named as the most eligible bachelor on Tinder. So, if the users swiped right on his profile it would redirect them to the donation page.