Jakarta - A critically endangered Sumatran
rhinoceros was born on Saturday at an Indonesian sanctuary, only the
fourth birth in captivity in more than a century, boosting survival
hopes for the species, say conservationists.
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This June 14, 2012, photo released by the
International Rhino Foundation, shows Ratu, a Sumatran Rhinoceros, at
the Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia. Ratu gave birth to a baby boy
on Saturday, a rare event that has only happened three times in the
last century, experts said on June 22, 2012. (AFP Photo/International
Rhino Foundation/Benn Bryant)
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"Ratu gave birth to a
male baby at 00:45 on Saturday. Both the mother and the baby are all
very well," conservationist Widodo Ramono, who works at a sanctuary on
the southern tip of Sumatra island, told AFP.
The last three
in-captivity births for Sumatran rhinos took place in the United States
at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. The father of the newborn, Andalas, was
himself the first Sumatran rhino delivered in captivity in 112 years. He
was born in September 2001, according to the zoo.
Before
Andalas, the latest Sumatran rhino born in captivity was in the Calcutta
Zoo in India in 1889, according the Rhino Resource Centre, a British
reference website. Andalas was brought to Indonesia to mate with
Ratu, a female who grew up in the wild but wandered out of the forest
and now lives at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National
Park. Sumatran rhinos have suffered a 50% drop in population
numbers over the past 20 years, largely due to poaching and loss of
tropical habitat.
There are now believed to be fewer than 200 alive. Most reside in isolated pockets in Southeast Asia.
"Thank
God, we are very grateful that all the delivery process went smoothly
and naturally. We actually made some emergency preparation in case that
Ratu need(ed) a surgery in delivering the baby," Indonesia forestry
ministry's spokesperson Masyhud said. "It's really a big present
for the Sumatran rhino breeding efforts as we know that this is a very
rare species which have some difficulties in their reproduction," the
ministry's spokesperson said.
Solitary and aggressive, the rhinos
are rarely sighted in the wild and avoid even other members of their
species except when females are ready to mate. "This is the first birth of a Sumatran rhino at a sanctuary in Indonesia," he told AFP. "Soon after the delivery, the mother began breastfeeding the baby," he added.
The
US-based International Rhino Foundation executive director Susie Ellis
said in a press release, published on Friday before the birth, that a
veterinary team would immediately harvest placental cells that can be
used to generate stem cells.
Stem
cells have the potential to be useful for many purposes in the near
future, including curing diseases and helping promote reproduction, it
said. The head veterinarian Dedi Candra had closely monitored
Ratu's pregnancy by weighing her weekly and conducting regular
ultrasound exams, the release also said. Ratu and Andalas were
paired in 2009 at the sanctuary, two years after Andalas was brought
from the Cincinnati zoo for a breeding programme.
The 12-year-old
lost her first pregnancy after two months and her second after less
than a month. She gave birth after a 16-month pregnancy. Poaching is one of the biggest killers of Sumatran rhinos, whose horns are reputed to have medicinal properties.
But
rhinos have also suffered from the destruction of their habitat.
According to environmentalists, two million hectares of forests are lost
every year in Indonesia. Andalas is the only remaining male
Sumatran rhino at the Way Kambas sanctuary since Torgamba, another male,
died last year. The sanctuary has three female Sumatran rhinos. Besides
the Sumatran rhino, Indonesia is also the last refuge to the critically
endangered Javan rhino, which conservationists believe number only 44,
located in the Ujung Kulon National Park on the western-most tip of
Java.
Source : SAPA
