Google celebrates Sudan the last male northern white rhino

Google is celebrating Sudan, the world’s last surviving male northern white rhino, who died two years ago in a doodle.

On their homepage, the firm put an illustration of Sudan written "Remembering Sudan, the Last Male Northern White Rhino".

In the illustration, Sudan is seen walking amidst bushes in an orange field filled with pretty trees and flowers.

Google said today’s Doodle remembers the last surviving male northern white rhinoceros, Sudan, who was known as an affectionate “gentle giant.”

On this day in 2009, Sudan and three other northern white rhinos arrived at their new home in Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Sudan, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 45 (the equivalent of 90 in human years), serves as a cherished symbol of ongoing rhino conservation efforts and a stark reminder of the danger of extinction that so many species face today.  

His death left only two females - his daughter and granddaughter - of the subspecies alive in the world.

The prospect of losing the charismatic animals has prompted an unusual scientific effort to develop new reproductive technology in hopes of saving them.

Sudan, who was the equivalent of 90 in human years, was the last surviving male of the rarer variety after the natural death of a second male in late 2014.

Sudan was born in Shambe, in what is today, South Sudan in 1973 and is believed to be the last northern white rhino born in the wild.

In 2009, after the northern white rhino was declared extinct in the wild, four rhinos including Sudan, his daughter Najin, and his granddaughter Fatu were transferred back to their native African habitat.