These rhinos travel by night. By day, they can be found wallowing in ponds and other shallow, muddy waters. This helps keep them cool and prevents their skin from cracking or drying out. They communicate with whistling and whining noises, as well as by kicking around their dung.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the species as critically endangered. Sumatran rhinos' iconic horns have been their downfall. The horn is also valued in the Middle East, Yemen especially, and North Africa as an ornamental dagger handle. Though poaching is what caused their numbers to plummet, isolation is now the biggest threat Sumatran rhinos face. Their numbers have decreased more than 70 percent in the past 20 years and, in , they were declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia.
Researchers estimate there are fewer than a hundred Sumatran rhinos left in the wild. Those dwindling numbers mean they must travel farther than ever to find a mate and reproduce. Worse, if females go too long without mating, they can develop cysts and fibroids that make them infertile. Legally protected across their range, Sumatran rhinos are also the focus of an extensive international cooperation program.
Rhino Protection Units guard the regions in which they live to prevent further poaching, while attempts at captive breeding to rebuild their population continue. Scientific breakthroughs led to the births of three calves at the Cincinnati Zoo in the early s. But despite these efforts, the global population continued to dwindle. The Sumatran Rhino Rescue captures wild rhinos and relocates them into sanctuaries where scientists can assist them to safely reproduce. All rights reserved.
Animals Photo Ark. Sumatran rhinoceros. A Sumatran rhinoceros photographed at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. Common Name: Sumatran rhinoceros. April 26 Reuters - A genome study involving the last remaining populations of the Sumatran rhinoceros - a solitary rainforest dweller - is providing what scientists called good news about the prospects of saving this critically endangered species from extinction.
The researchers said on Monday that their study found that the two existing wild populations of this rhino on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra boast unexpectedly good genetic health and surprisingly low levels of inbreeding. Experts estimate that only about 80 of the rhinos remain after a separate population on the Malaysian Peninsula went extinct in recent years.
The Sumatran rhinoceros - the closest living relative to the woolly rhinoceros that was among the notable species of the last Ice Age - is known for its two small horns and a thin coat of reddish-brown hair.
So these findings were good news to us," said Nicolas Dussex, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Sweden who helped lead the study published in the journal Nature Communications. The researchers sequenced the genomes of seven rhinos from Borneo, eight from Sumatra and six from the Malay Peninsula population that has been considered extinct since Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big Grassroots efforts are bringing solar panels to rural villages without electricity, while massive solar arrays are being built across the country.
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