++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE: THIS VIDEO HAS BEEN LOOPED++ Intimate video of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, has emerged just weeks before he died.

The rare footage was filmed wildlife filmmaker Matt Brierley at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya.

Sudan passed away on March 19 due to age-related complications that led to degenerative changes in his muscles and bones.

The last option to save the northern white rhino race is to use a mixture of in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy as only two females now survive.

The video was filmed on January 7, 2018.

Sudan was the last male northern white rhino. Northern whites are one of two subspecies of white rhino, the other being the southern white rhino. There are now only two northern white rhinos remaining, both female. Sudan was 45 when he died on 19th March 2018 at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya. Sudan was old for a rhino and being treated for age-related complications that led to degenerative changes in muscles and bones combined with extensive skin wounds, visible in the footage. Sudan's sperm has been frozen and IVF could still save this subspecies. However, it is unlikely either female could ever carry an infant - since they both have reproductive challenges - so the process would necessitate a southern white rhino acting as a surrogate. The northern white rhino was once abundant across central Africa but staggering rates of illegal hunting for its horn have led to its extinction in the wild. Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails, and has no proven medicinal value.