As the world looks on to the few specimens left of the white rhino and the rhino population worldwide, a U.S. zoo is trying to do something about the critically endangered species.
Both elephants and rhinos are slaughtered yearly in the hundreds to satisfy the abhorrent Chinese demand for their horns. China, to date, although extremely demanding in their own panda breeding programs abroad, has not once fostered a nationwide campaign to stop demand for either rhino horns or elephant tusks, or even tried to effect a crackdown of the abject tradition.
So the U.S. zoo is proposing to try to keep the species alive in captivity, where they hope to stem its incipient demise.
The particular couple of siblings used for the mating program of the Sumatra rhino has caused consternation in many scientists, but the zoo has no choice: there are just so few of them, that this is the only alternative.
Conservation monitoring programs say that there are less than 100 of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino species. With the difficulty in reproduction and the health concerns, including an extreme tenderness to chemicals and pesticides, rhino numbers can dwindle quickly. There are only 10 of the Sumatran rhinos in captivity worldwide. They are also closely related, due to their extremely low numbers, which makes breeding even more difficult.
In addition, artificial insemination is impossible in rhinos, so they cannot ship sperm from a viable male of somewhat different genetic pool to the zoo. The only alternative is to breed with the available males. In this case, the couple are brother and sister.
Zookeepers are also hoping that the Indonesian government will take measures to protect the rhino and maybe capture some of them that are in areas where their habitat is shrinking, due mainly to aggressive palm oil tree plantation.
The problem, the zookeepers say, is that the Sumatran Rhino, unlike its African counterpart, is not getting much exposure. Terri Roth, the director of the Lindner Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife says that the world risks losing the "rhino quietly, without a whimper, and I don't want to see it happen."
Source : France 24/7.27.13
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