Good news for endangered Sumatran rhinoceros

sumatran rhino

They are the smallest of the living rhinoceroses and the only Asian rhino with two horns and a thin coat of reddish-brown hair.
They are more closely related to the extinct woolly rhinos than any of the other rhino species alive today. Less than 80 Sumatran rhinos are left in the wild, living in isolated pockets of forest.
Sumatran rhinos are threatened due to habitat loss, low birth rate and fragmentation.
Once found across South Asia, today, the species only survives on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo where dense highland and lowland tropical and subtropical forests are found.
The species was declared extinct in the wild on mainland Malaysia in 2015 and Malaysian Borneo in 2019.
IUCN status: Critically Endangered.

It is mating with close relatives — in the wild because of its small numbers.
Inbreeding creates a heightened risk of genetic flaws and reduced genetic diversity.

A new genetic research on Sumatran rhinos has 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.
Scientists had feared that reports of tumors and low fecundity among these rhinos were evidence of a dangerously inbred population.
Scientists are thinking about an option to revive the population of these rhinos with techniques like artificial insemination and translocation of rhinos.
There is also focus on reducing non-genetic factors such poaching and habitat destruction to protect this critically endangered species.

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