OL PEJETA CONSERVANCY, Kenya (AP) — There are only eight of them still known to exist in the world -- but officials hope to increase the population of northern white rhinos by moving four of them to a game park in Kenya.
The four arrived in Kenya today, after spending nearly 24 hours in a Czech zoo -- where they produced no offspring.
The two males and two females were loaded into wooden crates for the trip to the game park.
The rhinos' handlers and park officials said they hoped the two females will bear as many young as possible for several years. But they acknowledge it's not a sure bet that the rhinos will reproduce.
The northern white rhino is the world's rarest large mammal.
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<<APPHOTO XRG116 (12/20/09)>>
: Staff of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya unload four containers carrying northern white rhinos from the Czech Republic as they are transported to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009. Four of the world's last known eight northern white rhinos landed in Kenya on Sunday and were transported to the game park where officials hope the endangered mammals will reproduce and save their sub species.
<<APPHOTO XRG107 (12/20/09)>>
: Tourists and journalists peer through the fence of a pen to see a northern white rhino shortly after it arrived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009. Four of the world's last known eight northern white rhinos landed in Kenya on Sunday and were transported to the game park where officials hope the endangered mammals will reproduce and save their sub species.
