rare birth of an endangered Sumatran rhino

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There are only 80 specimens of this animal left. Local authorities have launched a program to try to restore this species.

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A two-day-old Sumatran rhino on November 26, 2023 in Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia). (MINISTRY OF THE INDONESIAN ENVIRONMENT / AFP)

A Sumatran rhino has just been born in a reserve in western Indonesia, authorities announced on Monday, November 27. This is an important announcement, as part of a program to restore this species. The female, named Delilah, gave birth this weekend to a male rhino in Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra. The animal, whose father is named Harapan, weighed 25 kilos at birth. Smallest of all rhinoceroses, the Sumatran rhino can still reach a weight of 1.5 tonnes as an adult.

Only 80 specimens still in the world

This is the fifth birth under this program, said Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Minister of Environment and Forestry. Another birth occurred in September. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that there are fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos left in the world, living mainly on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and Borneo, an island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the sultanate. from Brunei. “This is the second birth of a Sumatran rhino in 2023. This further strengthens the government’s commitment to rhino conservation in Indonesia”declared the minister.

Multiple threats have brought the Sumatran rhino to the brink of extinction, including poaching and climate change. Indonesia is also trying to save another endangered species, the Javan rhino, of which only 80 specimens remain, again.


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