A northern white rhino has died at a San Diego zoo, leaving only five worldwide and bringing the species closer to extinction.
Angalifu, 44, died of old age Sunday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
"With Angalifu's passing, only five northern white rhinos are left on the planet, including Nola, our elderly female," the zoo said in their statement.
He was one of a handful of northern white rhinos left in the entire world, including a few at a Kenya wildlife conservancy. There are no known northern white rhinos left in the wild.
Southern white rhinos and northern white rhinos are different subspecies genetically.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the northern white rhino as "teetering on the brink of extinction.", last year.
Rhinos are killed by poachers almost exclusively for their horns, which sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
This article makes me very disappointed. I'm sad that extreme hunting of species is still continuing in the world today. It reminds me of the 1800s in U.S. history when Buffalo was hunted by white people moving onto Native American territory and they were driven to near extinction.
The source for the article is here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/15/us/san-diego-white-rhino-dead/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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