All About Rhinos (Part 3)

When Andalas was born in the Cincinnati Zoo two days after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, his baby photos vied for attention with images of the devastation, and were cause for jubilation.

It was a pretty big deal. He was the first Sumatran rhino to be born in captivity in 112 years. His parents, Emi and Ipuh had come to Cincinnati as part of an international breeding programme developed to increase the population of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino.

And it was a case of six times lucky. Emi had five miscarriages, never holding on to a foetus for more than three months, before she carried Andalas to term.

Dr. Terri Roth, the vice president for animal sciences at the Cincinnati Zoo, said in an interview a few weeks after the birth, that when Emi was pregnant with Andalas, the veterinarians changed her regimen by giving her the hormone progesterone. “We knew progesterone had been used to sustain pregnancy in mares and that it had even been used with some black rhinos. We still have no proof that this is what made the difference.”

She pointed out that in working with relatively unknown species, one has to be a comparative biologist. “The data isn’t out there. You have to think, well, the rhino might not be quite like a horse or a cow, but maybe it’s more like a camel. You have to pull information together from all these different species.”

After Andalas (the ancient name of Sumatra), Emi successfully carried two more babies to term – Harapan (2004) and Suci (2007). She died two years later, having been at the zoo for 14 years, after a short illness, and Thane Maynard, the Zoo’s director put out a touching dedication to her on the zoo’s website:

“No animal has been more beloved than Emi in the 134 year history of the Cincinnati Zoo. She is the most famous rhino in the world and has led the way in the effort to establish a successful captive breeding program for this critically endangered animal. My fondest hope is that we now build on Emi’s legacy and increase our efforts tenfold to continue the global effort to save the Sumatran rhino.”

In the meantime, Andalas, who had been transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo to make way for his siblings, has since been relocated to sanctuary in Way Kambas after a round-the-world trip that included stops in Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur. According to both the Cincinnati Zoo and the staff of the Way Kambas sanctuary, he has adjusted well to life in Sumatra.

After 3 months, Andalas was released into a big paddock where he has gradually been introduced to two young females, Rosa and Ratu, at the sanctuary. Although he was a little timid to begin with, running away when he heard other rhinos coming, he soon began to exhibit typical rhino behaviour with this peers – kicking up dirt, feigning attack, chasing and trampling bushes.

The Cincinnati Zoo, in the meantime, has been keeping tabs: “Despite all of these changes, Andalas has maintained his childhood love of people and the attention they give him. He is the most well-behaved rhino in the reserve for blood collection, foot exams, ultrasound exams and many other hands-on procedures that help the staff maintain his excellent health. Andalas has never been sick or seriously injured and he has adapted to the new forest environment, the change in diet and exposure to many new insects that he hadn’t encountered in the US, without a hitch.”