Sumatran rhino born in US zoo, first in 112 years

USA: September 17, 2001

CINCINNATI - The first Sumatran rhinoceros was born in captivity since 1889 at the Cincinnati Zoo last week, an event hailed by officials as monumental for the rapidly vanishing species.

The birth of the rhino, which is indigenous to Indonesia, prompted euphoria in the international zoo-keeping community. Officials said it has been 112 years since the last Sumatran rhino was born in captivity - in Calcutta, India - capping intensive efforts to reproduce an endangered species reduced to fewer than 300 survivors worldwide.

Tom Foose, program director of the International Rhino Foundation, said the birth of a male rhino at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden hopefully will lead the way for many other preservationists in perpetuating the species.

Terri Roth, director of the Cincinnati Zoo's Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife, credited intensive hormone and ultrasound use and proper nutrition for producing the birth through round-the-clock monitoring of the breeding couple.

The mother rhino, an 11-year-old named Emi, had five miscarriages since the breeding program began at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1997, Roth said.

She said Emi and the father, Ipuh, were on loan from Indonesia as the only breeding pair of Sumatran rhinos in the United States.

Ted Beattie of Chicago, immediate past president of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, said it was the most important zoo birth in recent history.

(Copyright Reuters Limited 2001)

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