Rare Rhino Born in Captivity

Rosa and her calf

Indonesia has a captive breeding program for the highly endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis.A female calfwas born March 24 at the Way Kambas NP sanctuary, the offspring of captive parents, father Andalu and mother Rosa. [photo left]  The breeding program is a extreme effort to save the species from extinction. Experts welcomed the news and renewed hope that breeding the aniamls in captivity will be an effective method of saving the Miocene species. Also known as hairy rhinos, the species has been particularly difficult to breed successfully. Attempts in the US beginning in the 80s were mostly failures. As a result the program became the subject of controversy. Much research and observation of reproduction in Sumatran rhinos finally led to success at the Cincinati Zoo in September 2001. A cow named Emi gave birth to a healthy male, Andalas. It was the first successful captive birth in 112 years! [photo courtesy Indonesia Ministry of Environment & Forestry].

Andalas was sent back to Sumatra from the Los Angeles Zoo to breed with captive females in Indonesia, which he did successfully; he is the father of Andatu. He is the father or grandfather of all the calves born at Way Kambas. His brother, Harapan, was the last rhino to leave the Western Hemisphere for Indonesia in 2015. Conservationists continue to question the value of an artifical and expensive program that removes the animals from their natural environments. However, what remains of their habitat is declining fast as forests are degradated or cleared. Malaysia lost its last rhino in 2019, when Iman, a captive cow died of cancer. The wild population is estimated to be no more than eighty individuals living in small, fragmented forests. 

Sumatra's captive population has incresed to eight counting the newborn. The unamed female is the third calf to be born at Way Kambas NP sanctuary and the sixth since efforts began three decades ago. The species once ranged throughout Southeast Asia--from the Himalayas in Bhutan and India to Southern China and down the Malay Pennisula. The Sumatran rhino has experienced a low reproductive rate in modern times, perhaps exacerbated by their isolation in scattered habitat, leading to the scientific consensus that without human intervention, they will go extinct. Mother Rosa endured eight miscarrages between 2017 and 2020 before giving birth successfully.