What it is
The northern white rhinoceros is a subspecies of the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a wide-mouthed grazer of African grassland. Only two animals are alive: Najin and her daughter Fatu, both females, kept under guard at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The last male, Sudan, died in March 2018. IUCN treats the white rhino species as Near Threatened because the southern subspecies still numbers in the tens of thousands; this northern form is Critically Endangered and gone as a wild breeding population.
Range
Historically South Sudan, Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Chad. The last wild animals were in Garamba National Park. There is no wild population now.
What happened
Horn poaching and war emptied the range. The two survivors cannot produce a calf without assisted reproduction. The BioRescue consortium has made northern-white embryos and transferred some into southern-white surrogates; as of 2025-2026 no long-term pregnancy has been reported. That is a laboratory hope, not a wild recovery.
When / status
Functionally extinct in the wild. Two captive females remain.
Human role
The horn trade and conflict finished the wild animals. Captive care keeps two females alive; it has not restored a population.
Sources
Save the Rhino / IRF population notes; Ol Pejeta and Leibniz-IZW BioRescue updates; IUCN Red List (Ceratotherium simum).