NEW YORK — The last male northern white rhinoceros died at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya after a series of infections and other health problems.

At 45, Sudan was an elderly rhino, and his death Monday was not unexpected. Hunted to near-extinction, the northern white rhino population now number two: Najin, Sudan’s daughter, and Fatu, his granddaughter, both at the conservancy.

The prospect of losing the charismatic animals has prompted an unusual scientific effort to develop new reproductive technology in hopes of saving them.

“This is a creature that didn’t fail in evolution,’’ said Thomas Hildebrandt, head of reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin and one of the project’s leaders. “It’s in this situation because of us.’’

Northern white rhinos, a subspecies of the more populous southern white rhinos, once roamed the grasslands of east and central Africa. In 1960, there were approximately 2,000.

A multidisciplinary team of scientists spanning five continents has turned to an innovative mix of classic reproduction techniques and cutting-edge stem cell technology in hopes of resurrecting the subspecies.

ASSOCIATED PRESS