There are believed to be fewer than 80 individuals of its species left on earth. A Sumatran rhino has just been born in a reserve in western Indonesia, as part of a program aimed at saving its species.
A female named Delilah gave birth to a male rhino this weekend in Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra. The animal, whose father is named Harapan, weighed 25 kg at birth. The smallest of all rhinoceroses, the Sumatran rhino can reach a weight of 1.5 tonnes as an adult.
This is the fifth birth under this program, said Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Minister of Environment and Forestry. Another birth occurred in September.
Less than 80 in the world
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that there are fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos left in the world, living mainly on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on Borneo, an island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the Sultanate of Brunei.
“This is the second birth of a Sumatran rhino in 2023. This further strengthens the government’s commitment to rhino conservation in Indonesia,” the minister said.
Multiple threats have brought the Sumatran rhino to the brink of extinction, including poaching and climate change. Indonesia is also trying to save another endangered species, the Javan rhino, of which only 80 specimens remain.