SAN DIEGO — The horns and body of Nola, the northern white rhino who died Sunday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, are being sent to the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington to assist researchers.
Nola’s death leaves only three northern white rhinos in the world — all in the Ol Pejeta Sanctuary in Kenya. At 41, Nola was in rapidly declining health; zookeepers Sunday opted to euthanize her.
Nola’s horns and body will be kept in the off-exhibit area at the Smithsonian with materials from other northern white rhinos in order to help researchers “continue to study this magnificent species,” the San Diego Zoo announced Tuesday.
In the minutes after Nola’s death, researchers at the zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research collected ovarian and uterine tissue samples for storage in the institute’s Frozen Zoo for study. The Frozen Zoo has genetic material from 11 other northern white rhinos.