Pantheraman
Well-Known Member
This is awesome! Especially with fewer than 80 left in the world, and the fact that they're hard to breed in captivity.
Sumatran Rhino news thread
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Bengal Tiger
Well-Known Member
There may be hope yet!!!!!
The news articles say that Rosa had seven miscarriages before this successful birth. Sounds rather similar to Emi in Cincinnati who had repeated miscarriages and failed to sustain a pregnancy until they gave her Progesterone hormone supplement. I wonder if Rosa was treated similarly, but perhaps in this case the treatment wasn't successful.
I think in a species like here progressive treatment in reproductive health is critical in expanding
the population. It is not like the situation with US Indian GOH rhinos where breeding is successful. For Sumatran rhinos every new individual counts. Remember there are only 60-85 left (as opposed to Javan with almost the same number now.
In terms of the numbers of Sumatran Rhinos and Javan Rhinos am wondering if there can be a method for sustaining viable genetic diversity in the future, but obviously just any births and every current individual Sumatran Rhino & Javan Rhino are incredibly sacred just by being who they are and being here still thank god. It's actually been really heartbreaking watching both species suffer and struggle and continue to dwindle sadly for so so long. So much respect for everyone out there doing the hardest work and all they can for saving these amazing animals, and really pleased to hear that Taronga has had a role to play in the efforts of their plight.
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I’ve been reading up on it and apparently the IRF manage eight rhinos inside a 250-acre sanctuary they built in Sumatra in 1996. The rhinos live in large, natural rainforest habitats and receive state-of-the-art veterinary care and nutrition. Some of these rhinos are part of a breeding programme to repopulate the park and maintain a genetically diverse population.
The rhinos are listed here and aren’t as genetically diverse as I hoped, but the reasons for them living in captivity are circumstantial in some cases e.g. they were captive born at Cincinnati: Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary
The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary has produced the only three calves born in captivity in Indonesia. Female Ratu gave birth to a male calf, Andatu on June 23, 2012, after having been bred by Andalas in March 2011 and taking a 16-month pregnancy to term. Delilah was the second calf born to the pair on May 12, 2016. After eight lost pregnancies, Sumatran rhino Rosa gave birth to her first calf on March 24, 2022. The female calf is also the first offspring for male Andatu, who is now approaching 10 years old.
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One problem is that the three males are all very closely related- two brothers(Andalas and Harapan, both born in Cincinnati Zoo) and the son of the older one(Andatu- the father of the latest calf.)
The four adult females are Ratu and Delilah(mother and daughter) Rosa (now after many years, having finally bred successfull, with her new female calf) and Bina (presumably too old to ever breed now and she has never done so in Way Kambas).
The stated intention is to add around three more unrelated (wildcaught) animals to the project but despite being much talked about, it has not happened yet. They have to locate and trap them and that is not easy. Most pressing is an unrelated male to breed with the now six year old 'Delilah' who must be approaching (or is already?) maturity. The existing males at Way Kambas are her father, uncle and brother.
I was surprised how many of the rhinos were related. Factor in one of the two adult cows is 41 and there’s not a lot to work with. It’d be ideal to bring in more cows and rotate unrelated bulls through if it was possible to capture and rerelease them after a period of time. Possibly not as they’d become accustomed to captivity.
A founder base of three or four young cows and a couple of bulls could achieve significant results.
It’s surprising they haven’t undertaken a project to identify and catalogue every Sumatran rhinoceros on a database. There’s only 80 of them and they have teams in the field.
That news item is now 6+ years down the line.
That sounds about right, given that the post you quoted is from 2015.
I think the total of 80 is only an estimate and they don't really know how many exactly there are. Unlike the Javan rhino in Udjong Kulon where the population is in one quite small area and can be monitored exactly, the Sumatrans are spread over much larger areas in three different regions of Sumatra, and maybe still with just a few(?) in Borneo too. So cataloguing them all may be a lot more difficult.
They certainly need a few more individuals for the semi-captive project at Way Kambas, but safe trapping and transportation seem to be another problem, even if they can locate suitable individuals-no elderly females needed.... A new unrelated bull is the first/immediate requirement now.
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The birth has even been filmed 
. Video see :
. Video see :
Polar bear fan
Well-Known Member
I found some interesting but not surprising and still relatively exciting news about the breeding program.
“There are now a total of eight Sumatran rhinos at SRS. In addition to Andalas, Ratu, Rosa, Andatu, and the new calf, there’s 6-year-old female Delilah, the second offspring of Andalas and Ratu, and an older female named Bina.
“The SRS team is hoping to breed Harapan to Delilah this year, so we look forward to updates on their progress,” Roth said.”
Sumatran Rhino born 10,000 miles away has Cincinnati roots
We also now can confirm that Rosa received help during her pregnancy.
“Throughout her pregnancy, Rosa received additional help in the form of fetal-boosting hormones, routine ultrasound scans, and monitoring in an effort to secure the best outcome for her special pregnancy.”
Rare Baby Sumatran Rhino Born At An Indonesian Sanctuary
“There are now a total of eight Sumatran rhinos at SRS. In addition to Andalas, Ratu, Rosa, Andatu, and the new calf, there’s 6-year-old female Delilah, the second offspring of Andalas and Ratu, and an older female named Bina.
“The SRS team is hoping to breed Harapan to Delilah this year, so we look forward to updates on their progress,” Roth said.”
Sumatran Rhino born 10,000 miles away has Cincinnati roots
We also now can confirm that Rosa received help during her pregnancy.
“Throughout her pregnancy, Rosa received additional help in the form of fetal-boosting hormones, routine ultrasound scans, and monitoring in an effort to secure the best outcome for her special pregnancy.”
Rare Baby Sumatran Rhino Born At An Indonesian Sanctuary
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Harapan x Delilah- I can't read the related text about this but its interesting news and a good decision I believe, given the current absence of any unrelated male. They cannot really afford to wait longer. He is her uncle. Hope its successful.
Rosa- she apparently didn't start her run of unsuccessful pregnancies until 2017, having been there for over ten years prior to that. I wonder what other problem(s) they had to overcome first. And even with hormonal treatment she miscarried seven( or this item says eight..) times.
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Polar bear fan
Well-Known Member
I don’t know for sure but it’s been stated that Rosa had socialization issues and it was more difficult to breed from her, a more human oriented rhino, than Ratu, Andalas, and Bina.
I’ll admit I was surprised to see her keepers crowding around her as she gave birth (as opposed to closely watching the birth remotely) without any sense their presence was stressing her during the delivery. The explanation of her humanisation makes complete sense.
Frankly speaking, for many years there have been no news not only of bringing an unrelated wild rhino, but even seriously trying. Breeding between close relatives is the only way now.
Looking at the history of Sumatran rhinos in zoos, the main problem in their breeding is simply that very rarely a breeding age male and female were ever kept together. Most of the time an institution had only one animal or a non-breeding one for years, and hoped to obtain a partner which never came.
I'm pretty sure all the rhinos in Way Kambas must be human-orientated to some degree now- two(now three) were born there, two were born in the USA, and there is often hands-on treatment, check-ups etc generally it seems. Though Rosa was 'wildcaught', for some reason she was already very tame so that 'captured' seems hardly the right word for her..but I was still surprised to see them so close-up during the birth, presumably in case of any emergency- fortunately things went smoothly..
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Agree with that- often talked about but still nothing happens. But just a single unrelated bull would open up the breeding programme with the animals they already have, particularly for the two females born there- Delilah and for the new calf in the future..
So sorry you had to waste your time commenting then