White Rhino, Sana, dies in French zoo; Caretakers believe she was the oldest of her kind

The last southern white rhinoceros or square-lipped rhinoceros in captivity has breathed her last. Sana as she was called died at a French Zoo that was her home at the age of 55. The southern rhinoceros is one of the largest species among its kind and Sana was the oldest of her kind.

Strong-willed Sana

Sana was born in 1964 in the Umfolozi National Park in South Africa. She was transported to Europe seven years later, as a zoo attraction. According to her caretakers, Sana was always strong-willed with a fierce character, she uses to set all the rules but during her last stages, she had become understandably subdued and had even stopped rolling in the mud. Rhinoceros usually frequently roll in the mud in order to keep their skin hydrated and to ward off infections.

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As she was unable to do it herself, Sana's caretakers applied a coat of green clay on her skin once a week. This was done to keep her skin hydrated and to stave off infections.

The square-lipped grazers, larger than their black cousins, are divided into southern and northern subspecies. The life expectancy of white rhinos in the wild is about 50 years. In March 2018, subspecies of the northern white Rhinos became functionally extinct when the last male, Sudan, died in Kenya. Sudan is only survived by two females, neither of whom re unable to carry a calf. Sudan died at the age of 45 after a long battle with several age-related complications. His caretakers had decided to euthanize him.

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Hope for Nothern White Rhinos

But scientists may have found a way to save the species through the use of groundbreaking technology. Science has been able to extract 10 viable eggs from the surviving females- five each. Now, the scientists have been successful in artificially inseminating seven of those 10 eggs at a lab in Italy using Intra Cytoplasm Sperm Injection (ICSI). It's the result of years of tweaking and testing in order to perfect the procedure.

The species were estimated to number about 2,000 in Africa in 1960, before habitat loss and poaching drastically slashed their numbers.