34-year-old Suni, an extremely rare nearly extinct white rhino, died in Kenya. According to reports, he was one of only two breeding males of his subspecies left in the world.

The rhino was found dead on October 17 while in his enclosure at Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The reserve stated that the cause of death of the animal might be natural.

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White rhinos can live up to 40 or 50 years. The reserve's managers are  positive that poachers did not kill the animal as it was being monitored 24/7. An autopsy is still ongoing before the reserve can release an official statement regarding the death of one of the almost extinct species.

Suni never fathered any offspring to add to the only six northern white rhinos left on this planet. Due to this, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has announced that their existence is already threatened.

Suni was born at the Dvůr Králové Zoo located in the Czech Republic, where he was a sign of hope as he was one of the four that were sent to the reserve in Kenya back in 2009 in attempts to save the said species.

According to Matthew Lewis, a senior program officer for the African species conservation, it's a shame that the subspecies got to the point that they were put in an enclosure to try to increase the number of the white rhinos. He pressed that the decrease in the number of these animals were due to "evolution" as they have lost their habitats, as well as through poaching.

According to Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, the animals are basically extinct now as there is only one male left, making it's chances of having offspring a really thin line.

He also talked about human causes that has contributed to the loss of this species.

Rhinoceroses are very important in keeping the grasslands healthy. It's ecological role is so vital that it is now worrisome that all of them may die sooner or later, Pimm added.

Scientists are looking into mating the northern white rhino females with the southern subspecies if and when the last male white rhino does not mate. The scientists pressed that this could preserve some of the genes of the white rhino although it will be mixed with their relative. 

TagsWhite Rhino, nearly extinct, Kenya, Dies, one of the two breeding males, mate, offspring, Ol Pejeta Conservancy