The rhino has been transported to a sanctuary, is to be introduced to a male

Mar 24, 2014 19:31 GMT  ·  By
Critically endangeres Sumatran rhino is captured in Malaysia, will soon be entered into a breeding program
   Critically endangeres Sumatran rhino is captured in Malaysia, will soon be entered into a breeding program

Those who think that the dating scene has virtually nothing to offer them can at least take comfort in the thought that they do not belong to a critically endangered species such as Sumatran rhinos.

Otherwise put, there is a lot more fish in the sea to pick and choose from than Sumatran rhinos can presently even dream about.

Not to beat about the bush, it would appear that conservationists in the state of Sabah in Malaysia have recently managed to capture a female belonging to said species after pursuing it for about eight months.

Given the fact that, according to several estimates, about one hundred Sumatran rhinos are currently left in the wild, this female was not allowed to go about its business.

More so given the fact that, according to experts who have had the chance to examine it, the female is now fertile and therefore has high chances to become pregnant.

Mongabay tells us that, not long after it was captured, the female Sumatran rhino was transported via helicopter to a sanctuary, where it is to be entered into a breeding program.

The facility in question is a semi-wild enclosure dubbed the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary, and it is located in Malaysia. It is presently home to a male Sumatran rhino named Tam.

Should conservationists have their way, the female rhino, whose name is Iman, and Tam will eventually become sweethearts, and start a family together.

John Payne with the Borneo Rhino Alliance says that, although Iman does not seem all that anxious to meet Tam, the female rhino will probably become more friendly once it grows accustomed to its new surroundings.

“Iman is healthy, but nervous, and will need quite a while to adapt to captive conditions. The presence of Tam in particular seems to make her fearful,” John Payne said in a recent interview with the press.

In case anyone was wondering, Sumatran rhinos were driven this close to extinction by poaching activities and the destruction of their natural habitats as a result of deforestation.

Still, specialists say that, as surprising as this may sound, hunting and deforestation are not the main threats to these animals' long-term survival these days.

On the contrary, the biggest problem is that the hundred Sumatran rhinos estimated to still be alive in the wild are spread across several patches of land in Borneo, Sumatra, maybe even peninsular Malaysia.

Consequently, the animals are having trouble coming into contact with one another and mating, the result being that the overall headcount for this species is failing to increase.