The Sumatran rhinoceros is now extinct in Malaysia following the death of cancer-stricken Iman.
The female rhino passed away Saturday at the age of 25.
“We are saddened by [the] news,” Susie Ellis, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, said, offering condolences to the Sabah government and workers at the Borneo Rhino Alliance.
Rescued in 2014, Iman was brought to the Borneo Rhino Alliance in Sabah, where she received round-the-clock care from keepers and veterinary staff.
A uterine tumor, detected at the time of her capture, reportedly spread to her urinary bladder. Iman nearly died on several occasions due to sudden massive blood loss.
“We knew that she was starting to suffer significant pain from the growing pressure of the tumors into the bladder,” Sabah Wildlife Department Director Augustine Tuuga said in a statement, published by Malaysian news site The Star.
Conservationists had hoped Iman could be bred naturally with Tam, a male Sumatran rhino captured in 2008. But Tam did not have high-quality sperm and Iman’s carcinoma prevented conception.
Tam, believed to be in his late 30s, passed away in May.
Genetic material from both rhinos has been saved; conservationists hope to eventually convert the cells into viable embryos to be transplanted into surrogate carriers.
“There is limited knowledge about Sumatran rhino reproductive physiology and converting cells in a laboratory into viable embryos is complex,” Ellis said. “Still, there is hope for the survival of Sumatran rhinos.”
Also known as the hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhino, the Sumatran is the smallest of its species, yet still one of the largest—and most endangered—animals on the planet. Fewer than 80 individuals remain.
After decades of poaching and habitat loss, the species’ greatest threat has become the distance separating their small populations, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Unable to easily find mates, many breeding-age Sumatran rhinos risk infertility.
Others, like Iman, pass away without procreating.
There have been successful breeding programs: As of November 2018, three calves were born at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and two more at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park.
Once scattered across Asia, these adorable creates are now found only in Sumatra and Borneo, where, in 2015, researchers announced the Bornean rhinoceros had become extinct from the northern part of the island.
A tiny population, however, was discovered in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, in early 2016.
That’s where a critically endangered female was rescued from a mining concession and transported to a holding facility in the Kelian Lestari Protected Forest.
More on Geek.com:
- Critically Endangered Black Rhino Expecting First Calf at Michigan Zoo
- ‘Historic’ Birth: Artificially Conceived Southern White Rhino Born at SD Zoo
- Test Tube Embryo Transfer Could Bring Near-Extinct Rhinos Back to Life
from Geek.com https://ift.tt/2Olv2md
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment