Chuck Murry

Chuck Murry

Aug 25, 2015

Group 6 Copy 269
1

Update--money has been transferred!

Hi everybody! We've finally transferred your donations to the University of Washington (thanks again). Now, we're finishing up the paperwork to transfer Ntombi's ear notch (stored in 70% alcohol at -20 degrees Celsius) from South Africa to the USA. No easy task. It should be noted that this notch was taken from Ntombi around 2011 or so as part of her normal monitoring process.

In other news, we found this funny meme that someone commented on a Science Alert article about us.

We'll let you know when we receive the sample!


1 comments

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  • Martin Crawford
    Martin CrawfordBacker
    Any updates?
    Mar 24, 2016
  • Pembient
    PembientResearcher
    Hi! There have been enormous difficulties in actually getting Ntombi's ear notch sample out of South Africa. While the existing regulations are important, they've definitely slowed down the pace of the project. If the delays persist, we may have to obtain a sample from a black rhino outside of South Africa. That, of course, would be a shame since Ntombi has been our "poster rhino" throughout. We'll make sure a formal update is issued by June.
    Mar 29, 2016
  • Martin Crawford
    Martin CrawfordBacker
    I just read the other day that black rhinos went extinct officially just recently. Are we too late?
    Jun 22, 2016
  • Pembient
    PembientResearcher
    You might have read about one of the subspecies of black rhinoceros, the western black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes). Ntombi is a south-central black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis minor). There are an estimated 2,000 south-central black rhinoceroses left in the wild. We still owe you a more extensive update on the project before the end of June. Thank you for your patience in regards to this matter, and please let us know if you have any additional questions.
    Jun 22, 2016

About This Project

We are sequencing the genome of a beautiful black rhino. Her name is Ntombi, and she is one of only 5,055 black rhinos alive in the world. Three out of eight original subspecies have been poached to extinction and the remaining five subspecies are critically endangered. With Ntombi's genome sequence we will be able to advance scientists' understanding of this endangered species that has played a critical role in our ecosystem for over 50 million years.

Blast off!

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