t’s A Girl!

Good news out of Indonesia: a very rare and endangered Sumatran rhino has given birth. The calf (still to be named) and her mom Rosa have spent their first week together bonding in the semi-wild environment of the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park.

Rosa had had eight failed pregnancies in the past. She finally hit paydirt with Andatu, the first Sumatran rhino ever born in captivity in Indonesia. The father, approaching ten years old, recently reached sexual maturity and he apparently put it to good use.

“We’ve been holding our breath since finding out Rosa was pregnant,” said Save the Rhino International CEO Cathy Dean. “Rhino pregnancies aren’t easy, so it’s wonderful to be able to celebrate this birth and know that there’s one more Sumatran rhino in the world.”

The critically endangered Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is the smallest species of rhino, with adults growing to a petite 1,100-2,100 pounds and sporting a pair of horns. As the closest relative of the wooly rhinos that stomped around Asia and Europe in the Ice Age, the Sumatran is the hairiest among contemporary species. There are believed to be only about 80 of them in the wild, on Sumatra and Borneo.

More pictures and info (and a place to donate) at savetherhino.org.

Photo credit: Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry