After suffering eight miscarriages over 17 years, Rosa, an extremely rare Sumatran rhino, successfully gave birth in an Indonesian sanctuary on 24 March.
The Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is the smallest of all rhino species and is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN red list, with fewer than 80 animals remaining in small, fragmented habitats in Sumatra and Borneo.
The species once flourished across southeast Asia but poaching and habitat destruction have taken their toll. Indonesia became the last refuge of the Sumatran rhino after Malaysia’s last rhino died in 2019.
A captive breeding programme was initiated in 2017 with rhinos from Sumatra and Borneo after experts agreed that this was the only viable option to save the species.
The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park is the only place where Sumatran rhino can breed naturally, but with the support of technology.
The recent birth – of a female – is the third calf to be born at the sanctuary, and just the sixth since intensive breeding efforts began in the 1980s.
‘With the birth of Rosa’s rhino calf at the Way Kambas Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, we hope this puts a new hope for us to continue hearing great news of more Sumatran rhino newborns in the future,’ said Wiratno, the director-general of conservation in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Indonesia.
Pictures: Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry
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