Pairing rhinos to breed for survival
Source: Agencies |
December 26, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
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MALAYSIAN wildlife authorities said they have captured a female Borneo Sumatran rhino who will be paired with a new mate in a breeding program meant to save their species from extinction.
The plan is to preserve the bristly, snub-nosed animal, whose numbers have fallen to fewer than 40 in the jungles of Borneo island.
Officials have spent more than three years seeking a suitable mate for a middle-aged male rhino named "Tam," who was rescued in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state in 2008 while wandering in an oil palm plantation with an infected leg likely caused by a poacher trap.
The first rhino previously found for Tam was too old to reproduce.
The Sabah Wildlife Department said in a statement late Saturday that rangers this past week captured a young female rhino nicknamed "Puntung" whom they had been monitoring for years.
"This is a fantastic gift for our uphill battle in ensuring the survival of this truly unique species," said the department's director, Laurentius Ambu. "This is now the very last chance to save this species."
The plan is to preserve the bristly, snub-nosed animal, whose numbers have fallen to fewer than 40 in the jungles of Borneo island.
Officials have spent more than three years seeking a suitable mate for a middle-aged male rhino named "Tam," who was rescued in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state in 2008 while wandering in an oil palm plantation with an infected leg likely caused by a poacher trap.
The first rhino previously found for Tam was too old to reproduce.
The Sabah Wildlife Department said in a statement late Saturday that rangers this past week captured a young female rhino nicknamed "Puntung" whom they had been monitoring for years.
"This is a fantastic gift for our uphill battle in ensuring the survival of this truly unique species," said the department's director, Laurentius Ambu. "This is now the very last chance to save this species."
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