Yahoo News 18 Feb 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Conservationists Thursday hailed a breakthrough in efforts to save the critically endangered Sumatran rhino after a female called Ratu became pregnant in captivity.
Tests on Tuesday revealed that eight-year-old Ratu was carrying a calf after mating with Andalas, the first of only three Sumatran rhinos born in captivity over the past 112 years, experts said.
"We're really happy to see the ultrasound has spotted the foetus and umbilical cord in Ratu's uterus," said Widodo Ramono of the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia, which is conducting the breeding programme in conjunction with the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and Cincinnati Zoo.
"This is very, very good news... It will be the first Sumatran rhino born in captivity in Indonesia."
If everything goes well, Ratu will give birth in May next year to only the fourth Sumatran rhino born in captivity.
The two-horned, hairy, forest-dwelling Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only about 200 remaining in the wild, up to 180 in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia, Ramono said.
Solitary and aggressive, they are rarely sighted in the wild and avoid even other members of their species except when females are ready to mate.
Andalas was born on September 13, 2001 in Cincinnati Zoo, while Ratu was rescued in 2005 after she was chased from a forest on Sumatra by villagers who reportedly mistook her for a mythical monster and tried to kill her.
They met last year in a sanctuary in Way Kambas national park in Lampung, South Sumatra province, two years after Andalas was brought from the United States to participate in the programme.
"At the beginning, we were quite pessimistic as Andalas was aggressive and unfriendly towards the female rhinos," Ramono said.
"He chased and fought Ratu and the other females and suffered quite serious wounds that needed at least a month to heal.
"But suddenly on November 16, Andalas softened his attitude towards Ratu and he tried to mate with her for the first time, but he didn't do it properly."
The pair finally got it right on their fourth attempt on January 13, when Ratu conceived, he said.
Poaching is one of the biggest killers of Sumatran rhinos, whose numbers have dropped more than 50 percent over the last 15 years. Their horns are reputed to have medicinal properties.
The Way Kambas sanctuary has two male and three females rhinos. The other male, Torgamba, proved to be infertile, so Andalas is carrying all the responsibility to make the breeding programme a success.
Veterinary surgeon Dedi Chandra told AFP that Ratu was in prime condition for motherhood and so far she was dealing with pregnancy well.
"Our approach now is more psychological. We're just trying to make her enjoy her pregnancy," he said.
"We haven't detected anything abnormal. Like humans, the early stages of pregnancy should be closely monitored. She has to be free from disturbances, have good food and drink and a good place to live."
IRF executive director Susie Ellis said that while captive breeding was not a substitute for protecting the species in the wild, it was a "critical part" of the strategy for the rhino's recovery.
"Every individual counts and the captive population represents not only an 'insurance policy' for the wild population, but also a means to study the basic biology of the species, which we must understand in order to save them," she said in a statement.
Mum-to-Be Helps Sumatran Rhinos Take Step Back from Extinction
Jakarta Globe 18 Feb 10;
The survival of the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros has received a much-needed boost with an announcement on Thursday from the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Lampung that a baby rhino was on the way.
The calf is expected to be born in May 2011 at the sanctuary, which is located in the Way Kambas National Park, and will be the second Sumatran rhino born and bred in captivity since 1889. But good fortune seems to run in the family, with the expecting father, Andalas, being the last Sumatran rhino born away from its natural environment.
Ratu, the expectant mother, was brought to the sanctuary in 2006 after wandering into a village near the Way Kambas National Park. “The pregnancy seems to be progressing well, and we believe the pregnancy is now about 36 days and Ratu is doing very well,” Susie Ellis, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, said in an e-mail.
“We believe this is her first pregnancy. Remember, she walked out of the forest and so what happened to her before she came to the sanctuary, we can’t be certain.”
Widodo Ramono, executive director of the Indonesian Rhino Foundation (YABI), said Ratu was fortunate to get pregnant so quickly because Andalas had been acting aggressively toward female rhinos.
“Rhinos are very, very difficult to breed because they are very solitary, so they become very aggressive towards the opposite sex,” he said. “The female only ovulates for 20 to 24 days each month and it will be 15 months before giving birth, so this should give a clear massage to illegal poachers that producing one calf is not that easy.”
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are only around 200 Sumatran rhinos left in the world, 170 of which are scattered across Way Kambas National Park, Bukit Barisan National Park and the Gunung Leuser ecosystem on Sumatra.
The remainder are found in Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo.
The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary currently has three female and two male rhinos.
Associated Press
Rare Sumatra rhino expecting calf
BBC News 18 Feb 10;
Conservationists in Indonesia have announced a breakthrough in their efforts to save the critically endangered Sumatran rhino.
They say an eight-year-old female in a Sumatra wildlife reserve is due to give birth to a calf in May.
The calf will be the fourth Sumatran rhino to be born in captivity, and the first in Indonesia.
The number of Sumatran rhinos has halved in the past 15 years. There are now an estimated 200 in the wild.
Widodo Ramono, of the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia, said it had been "very, very good news" when an ultrasound scan had revealed Ratu was carrying a calf.
Ratu's mate, Andalas, was born in Cincinnati Zoo in the US in 2001 and moved to the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary at the age of six.
Solitary animals
It is believed that when the two first met, Andalas chased Ratu, who was born in the wild, and fought with her, leaving her with serious injuries.
The smallest of the world's five rhinoceros species, the two-horned, hairy, forest dwelling Sumatran rhinos are solitary animals, often only approaching each other to mate.
The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta says the rhinos have long been the target of poachers who seem them as valuable prizes.
There is a long-held belief their horns have medicinal properties, especially in traditional Asian medicine, says our correspondent.
