Descendant of one of the rarest mammal species on earth, a small Sumatran rhino has been born in an Indonesian national park. The male calf is the second baby rhino born this year in Way Kambas National Park in the east of Sumatra island, the local environment ministry said. Since 2012, five rhinos have been born in the park as part of a conservation program.
The mini rhino was born on Saturday on the 460th day of his mother’s pregnancy – ten days earlier than the expected date. It doesn’t have a name yet. His parents are seven-year-old Delilah, born in the park, and the bull Harapan, who was born in 2007 at the Cincinnati Zoo in the US. In 2015 he found a new home in Way Kambas. According to the ministry, no Sumatran rhino has lived outside Indonesia since then.
Rhino species can squeak, hum and snort
It is the smallest of the five rhino species found worldwide. Unlike other species, the animals’ bodies are hairy. They have two horns and have a large repertoire of vocalizations, such as squeaking, humming and snorting.
Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) were once widespread in Southeast Asia. Hunting of the animals and the destruction of their habitats have shrunk the population to an estimated 80 individuals today. “This rhino is so rare that few people have ever seen one in the wild,” the Sumatran Rhino Alliance writes on its website. The alliance includes the Indonesian government, the WWF, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Rhino Foundation.
Source: Krone
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