Last Rhinos, The: A New Hope (2025)

[bunniefuu]

[heavy breathing]

[inspirational music playing]

[theme music playing]

[birds chirping]

[reflective music playing]

-Fatu... Come on, guy.

Here.

These are the last two

northern white rhinos on earth.

Their names are Najin and Fatu.

Hi, hi. Good Girl.

She loves to be stroked

behind the ears and, um...

under the belly also,

just like here.

Yeah, I've had her for 15 years,

so we are good friends.

Good girl, Najin.

But because of human failure,

human greed, the result is

just only the two we have.

Najin, she's 31 years old.

That is like about six

years in human lifetime.

And her daughter,

she's 20 years.

So they are mother and daughter,

watching each other get

older every day with no new

babies to teach and care for.

-Hi, Fatu. Hi, Fatu.

She's had some good

mud baths, it looks like.

In the early 1900s,

there were thousands

of northern white rhinos

roaming the plains

of Central Africa.

But due to poaching,

that number was down to only

15 by the 1980s.

Today, there are only

these last two females left.

I've been following this

story for over 15 years,

documenting a team called

BioRescue as they attempt a new

scientific procedure to save

the northern white rhino here

on a protected

preserve in Kenya.

-You see the young

21-year-old female and then

the 32-year-old female.

So it's a clear

difference in body shape.

We have a clock ticking on

us always with this project.

The last two northern

white rhinos are getting old.

They will not be here forever.

The males are already gone.

There's no natural

breeding anymore.

The only chance

would be via IVF.

[Ami] IVF is a reproductive

procedure where eggs and sperm

are combined in a laboratory.

The embryo is then implanted

into the uterus of the mother

to grow into a baby.

But IVF in a rhino has

never been done before.

The first step is

collecting oocytes, or eggs,

from the last living

northern white rhinos.

That's what the scientists

will attempt to do tomorrow.

[Thomas] She's beautiful.

Beautiful lady.

And hopefully you

will have a baby soon.

We are scientists

doing a procedure which was

never done before.

And if we fail, then the

northern white rhino is gone.

And that is on our shoulders.

My colleagues and I have poured

our life into this project,

so tomorrow is a very big day.

[upbeat music playing]

The night before

the ovum pick-up is

always quite challenging.

You have all these

ideas what can go wrong.

If we make a mistake,

it can have such

consequences that

there is an internal bleeding,

there is an anesthesia

which is too deep and

the animal never wakes up again.

[Zacharia] The first thing

we do is to check

how they're doing.

We don't want him to be nervous.

Fatu, come on, Fatu.

[Ami] Zacharia, you

can feel his stress.

He knows what the stakes are.

This is like his baby.

[Zacharia] Fatu.

I've looked after

them for 11 years,

and they do recognize my voice.

-This way. One more. OK.

OK, wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

OK, let her go.

Back.

Yeah, that's fine. That's fine.

Leave her.

Make sure that she stacks

the horn in the corner.

That's fine.

Leave her like this.

Cool, guys.

[Ami] The anesthesia is a

really important piece of it.

This is what Frank does.

If he doesn't get the

formula exactly right,

these animals can die.

[Frank] Two milligram deto,

100 milligram ketamine.

Okay, you can go higher now.

[Ami] These procedures

can be incredibly risky.

I mean, can you imagine

a 2,000-pound animal with

a horn waking up?

[Frank] Oxygen is deep in.

[Thomas] We had some accidents.

I lost a disc in my backbone

because working with elephants.

I broke my collarbone

with a rhino.

So there's some risk,

but we have to know that

our patient is dangerous.

It's not a teddy bear.

But doing this procedure

is for us the only chance.

[speaking in foreign language]

This one, small one.

There's two, actually.

Have you seen that?

Next to each other. Yeah.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Frank] Remember that

this ovary is down on the

lower side, yeah?

[Thomas] Yeah. Okay.

-Is this left or right?

[Thomas] Left, and

it's on the lower side.

[Frank] Okay.

[Thomas] Good.

Good for the kids.

Yep. Perfect.

[Frank] Okay guys,

crossed one hour border time.

-They're keeping

close track of the time.

You know, they can't

keep her under anesthesia

for that long.

[Thomas] Okay, stop. Yep.

[overlapping chatter]

Okay, okay. Very good.

Okay, let's go.

At the end, when we

finish the harvest,

the second phase happens,

and we have to find the oocyte.

Searching for the eggs or

oocyte takes place in a form of

shipping container,

which gets very hot.

And also, it is very

attractive for flies,

and you have to focus very

strongly on the microscope.

You play with the light and

then suddenly you see this

purple light coming out

of a cell and then you know

that is what you want.

Is that a good one?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it looks good.

-That is what we do.

The reason why we are here.

This is the beginning

of new life.

Robert, 19 oocytes.

-Yay!

[cheering]

Good.

Best result ever.

[Robert] Yes!

-Yep.

[Ami] 19 oocytes means 19

potential chances to create

new baby northern white rhinos.

-We never had such

result before.

Never.

The best in any rhino.

We are extremely grateful.

Okay, now I have to

pack again, sorry.

Sorry, that is the second part.

Otherwise we miss our

flight and lose our harvest.

Okay.

-As soon as they're done,

it's complete chaos.

They quickly get all

their suitcases and then

whizzed to the airport.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[laughter]

[Ami] It's a race against the

clock to deliver the eggs to

the lab in Italy

and turn those oocytes

into viable embryos.

[Thomas] We have maximum

48-hours after collection

when the oocyte

needs to be processed.

Otherwise, the

project will fail.

[inspirational music playing]

[Ami] I have been

documenting the story of

the northern white rhino

since 2009.

[camera shutter clicking]

I have probably made 40

trips which I have largely

self-funded because this

is one of the most important

stories of our lifetime.

[camera shutter clicking]

My goal is to reach as many

people as possible and inspire

them to care.

[audience applause]

Hello!

Hello, SLO!

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Wow.

I thank you all for coming out.

I am so excited to be back here.

Back in 2009, I met a

rhinoceros named Sudan

for the first time.

And quite unexpectedly,

this gentle,

hulking creature changed

the way I see the world.

I literally felt like I

had just seen a unicorn.

I was so moved by him, and

I couldn't believe that we,

humanity, had

reduced them to this.

[reporter] The world's last

male northern white rhino

has died.

A wildlife conservancy

in Kenya says the

45-year-old rhino

named Sudan died from

age-related complications.

Sudan was euthanized

after his condition

worsened significantly.

[Zacharia] I cared for Sudan

every day for almost 10 years.

He was so special

because he knew he was so

strong and so powerful.

But I think he also

knew he needed our help.

I can still remember the

last day we lost him.

Everything stands still.

[Ami] The moment

when Sudan died,

the last male

northern white rhino,

it was just this realization

that this is what we've done.

I only took two frames of that

because I didn't want the sound

of my camera to disturb the

sacredness of the moment.

And that picture,

I never expected

it to be so symbolic.

I think people saw it and

recognized it's our last chance.

[reflective music playing]

It was actually Sudan's

death that was a real spark.

Everybody began to understand

there's no more time.

After the eggs are extracted,

they have to be fertilized

within 48 hours.

Cesare's laboratory is amazing.

There's this high-tech

thing going on,

but then right outside are

all of these cloned animals.

That's where you get

this feeling like, oh,

we're playing God here.

But this technology means

saving the northern white rhino

just might be possible.

[Thomas] The eggs will be

fertilized with a sperm which

comes from two different bulls.

Both are passed away,

one in 2015, one in 2014.

It's quite a

challenging operation.

The sperm which is

injected will develop into

this new cell and then

new life starts to grow.

The miracle of life is

something that is so fragile.

It can be destroyed so easily.

Rhinos survive for millions

of years against drought,

predators, and the

forces of nature.

But in just a few decades,

humans nearly wiped them out.

Now every day that passes

without a new baby on the

ground is one day closer

to the northern white rhino

being gone forever.

So there's always this

clock ticking on us.

And our time is almost up.

[Ami] This is how we

imagine wildlife roaming the

open plains of Africa.

That's not actually what

it's like today for rhinos.

This is what it's like.

They have to be guarded

around the clock 24-7 by

heavily militarized men

because the value of their horn

is worth more than gold.

They are being

poached to extinction.

And it's not just the

northern white rhino.

It was just announced

that we have lost 73% of the

world's wildlife

in the last 50 years.

I just could not stop

thinking about this.

And I started researching

and reading everything

I could about this story.

I wanted to understand,

what do we do?

Is there hope?

How do we stop this?

And I just started asking

one simple question,

which I could not find

in any of the stories.

What do the people who live

right next to the animals think?

Do they care about them?

And actually, it has led me

down this amazing path of

finding the most extraordinary

people that do care.

We can often forget that the

best protectors are those

people who are living

alongside the animals.

They are the ones out

there fighting that fight

every single day.

[Thomas] There are only two

animals on earth capable of

providing the eggs

needed to make

northern white rhino embryos.

But even that is

in jeopardy now.

-One of these tumors

may even become malignant,

so that's the risk we

don't want to take.

[Thomas] The results of

Nadine's recent health check

shows that sadly she is too

sick to provide any more eggs

to the program.

So the number of new

embryos we can make now rests

solely on Fatu.

The extinction of this

species is on a razor's edge.

Every day that passes is

one day closer to losing the

last northern white

rhinos on Earth.

[somber music playing]

[Zacharia] I remember the

first time I saw a rhino,

it was so exciting.

[Zacharia] I want these rhinos

to be here for my daughters.

And for the next generation.

[Ami] Only five rhino

species remain on Earth.

Three are in Asia,

and two are in Africa.

Losing any of these rhino

species brings us one step

closer to losing

all rhinos forever.

Unfortunately, neither

of the last two surviving

northern white rhinos

are healthy enough

to carry their own pregnancy.

Saving the northern white rhino

depends on scientists

using closely related southern

white rhino females as

surrogate mothers to carry the

embryos created in the lab to a

full-term pregnancy.

But none of this has

ever been done before.

It's a scientific first.

-We're in Amsterdam.

I'm about to board the plane.

This has been the

most stressful and also

exciting 24 hours.

I got a call.

I was in the middle of

a talk in California,

scrambled to get here,

and it is just so exciting.

We're at the enclosure now.

We're driving up to the

northern white rhinos.

And right next door to them

are the southern white rhinos.

And the sun is coming up.

And there's just so

much anticipation.

Here we are.

[Thomas] Good morning, everyone.

We are extremely proud

to be here today because

it will be the first

time that an embryo from

a rhino source will be

implanted into a wild rhino.

That is a very big step.

[Frank] 50 milligram

butorphanol,

which is five milliliter

from this stuff.

[Thomas] We agreed in a quite

intensive discussion that it

would be more wise to use a

southern white

rhino embryo first.

If the embryo transfer of

our southern white rhino

embryos is successful,

then we would continue with the

northern white rhino embryos.

Everything of these

steps are new ground,

and therefore it is so

important to, to practice.

[intense music playing]

It's a little bit like

sending a man to the moon,

because as everyone knows,

not all of these missions

were successful.

[Frank] Okay, let's go.

Okay, good luck.

Good luck.

[intense music playing]

[overlapping chatter]

[Frank] Ready to go?

[overlapping chatter]

[Zacharia] Okay.

[Thomas] And more here, here.

-It's 36.

-OK.

[overlapping chatter]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Thomas] We will see.

[reporter] An international

team of scientists has

successfully implanted an embryo

into a southern white rhino

for the first time.

[reporter] It's a historic

international effort from teams

all across the world,

working quickly to save a

species before it's too late.

[reporter] The procedure

was carried out with

southern white rhinos,

which are closely

related to northern whites.

The surrogate in Kenya

is healthy and 70 days

into its pregnancy.

[Thomas] Now it is a waiting

game to see if it's actually

possible to grow a healthy

baby rhino via IVF.

But on a personal level,

putting so much time and energy

into this project has been

especially difficult recently.

My wife is a cancer patient,

and she had finished

her first chemotherapy

in May last year.

But unfortunately and

very tragically it turned out

she had a relapse of

her cancer and it is

not treatable anymore.

So she will die soon.

But we both agreed that this

is important for both of us.

It's a mission we want

to achieve together.

So that is our agreement

and that is my dream.

I think all these wonderful

people working with us,

they have the same mission.

We have to provide

the final proof.

When the first northern

white rhino calf is born,

I think I can relax a

little bit more and give the...

the flag to someone else.

But first we have

to achieve that.

[Ami] Last time I was here,

I had to race to the airport,

fly to Kenya, and they

implanted that embryo into the

southern white rhino surrogate.

But then something

terrible happened.

Six weeks after the procedure,

we got word that something

was wrong at the preserve.

Tragically, both rhinos died

before anyone could help.

It took weeks before

we really even understood

what had happened.

[Ami] In this tragic

moment came a ray of hope.

During the autopsy,

they found this viable

70-day-old male embryo

in her womb.

It was this

heartbreaking moment,

but at the same time,

this huge breakthrough.

[Thomas] Three and a half

years working very hard,

and that's really a milestone.

It's the first ever pregnancy

caused by an embryo transfer

in a rhino source.

[reporter] In another

world first,

a southern white rhino

became pregnant by IVF,

but the mother and the

baby died from an infection.

[Thomas] Unfortunately, we

lost it when it was 70 days.

But this little baby provided

us with a complete success

story that everything

was working,

and we could start

immediately with the

northern white rhino embryos.

Now, next time we come

with very precious cargo.

[Ami] The pregnancy

proved the process works.

But the loss of the surrogate

and teaser bull was a big hit

to the project.

[Thomas] It took months of work

on the ground in Kenya to get

the project back on track.

Introducing a new southern

white rhino surrogate.

And then capturing and

sterilizing a new teaser bull.

[overlapping excited chatter]

Now we are finally ready to

bring a new northern white rhino

baby into the world.

We begin by preparing the

frozen embryos for the long

trip to Kenya.

I have a number 2.

Can you write that?

- Yeah.

- 2 minus 3, 1.

Everything is very fragile.

If they heat up, they are dead.

Okay, perfect.

A lot of pressure.

A lot of pressure

on our shoulders.

[upbeat music playing]

[Ami] Now the stakes are much

higher using the precious

northern white rhino embryos

for the first time ever.

It's easy for people who may

not be close to these animals

to think that these are

habituated creatures.

They're not.

These were wild rhinos

that we are working with.

You realize so many

things have to be perfectly

in place for it to go right,

and it doesn't take a lot

for things to go wrong.

[Frank] Our new

teaser bull, Jomo.

He's not approachable

like the other one.

And he is known for

ramming vehicles.

So we have to do the darting

this time by helicopter.

Julia is with you and has

prepared the ketamine dart.

[dramatic music playing]

[Thomas] The plan is to dart

the female so we can perform

the embryo

implantation procedure.

And hopefully we can

keep Jomo away without having

to dart him.

He wants to be near the female,

but it's too dangerous

during the procedure.

So we are a little bit

under time pressure.

Our team is already in the air.

As soon as they dart the female,

we have 30 minutes to

thaw the frozen embryo and

get it implanted.

[Frank] Okay, just get as

close as you can to the female.

-Yeah!

[Frank] The first dart

only slows her down.

It takes two darts to

put her on the ground.

[intense music playing]

[Frank] Jomo is running

away now as well.

We're clear.

He has left the area.

[Thomas] The surrogate is down,

the bull is away,

and now Frank is

preparing the anesthesia.

[overlapping chatter]

[Frank] Yeah.

Can we have some water here

for, to clean the ear?

Yeah, yeah.

You okay?

You need help?

-Yeah.

-Wait. Push it a

little bit over there.

Get the leg out.

Okay guys.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Get the leg out.

One, two, three.

Yeah, good.

Yeah, have a look, wait.

[Thomas] So we get a

call and then we start our

procedure here and

joining them very soon

for the transfer.

[Julia] This perfect

little embryo,

which is barely

visible with the eye,

to thaw it in a safe way,

it is very stressful, yes.

[Thomas] Embryo

delivery is coming!

[cheering]

[Thomas] We have

in our catheter,

this little tiny 100

micrometer big object which

we transfer into this

gigantic uterus.

It's a very

complicated procedure.

So we are aware that every

step of that is so sensitive,

it can easily fail.

It's a very tense procedure

for everyone involved.

[cheering]

[Thomas] It's in, yeah.

The embryo was

released and this incredible

moment we have all been

dreaming of for so long has

finally been achieved.

We placed it in an

optimal position,

so we are quite hopeful that

this first attempt in the world

ever has success.

Now it's on nature and

praying and we will see

what, what happens.

[Ami] This moment, I haven't

actually fully processed it yet.

Today, I am reminded that it

takes these kinds of people

reimagining a world

where we can save species

literally from the

brink of extinction.

[Thomas] Historical moment.

Good. Now...

[sighs]