The Sumatran rhino is now extinct in Malaysia, scientists say

A study raised concerns by unveiling that Sumatran rhinos are extinct in Malaysia.

Just two females were captured in 2011 and 2014 for breeding goal.

The Sumatran rhinoceros is not plentiful on the planet: In fact, the Dicerorhinus sumatrensis is down to maybe 100 in the wild and nine in captivity, and majority live in Indonesia. This trend echoes how the Sumatran rhino population dropped from around 500 to extinction between 1980 and 2005 in Sumatra’s largest protected area, the enormous 1,379,100 hectare Kerinci Sebelat National Park. There was a time when Sumatran rhinos were found in plenty across the Southeast Asia.

“This includes the individuals now held in captivity”, added Gren Havmøller, who is the lead author of the report declaring the extinction that was published in Oryx, the worldwide Journal of Conservation.

Lead researcher Rasmus Gren Havmøller of Copenhagen’s Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate said that it is important for the species’ survival that all existing Sumatran rhinoceroses are considered a metapopulation.

According to their study, remaining rhinos in Indonesia are spread among three separate populations, one of which has experienced a significant decline in its range.

The established of intensive management zones is one of those strategies that are agreed upon in April 2013 in Sumatran Rhino Crisis Summit in Singapore but this conservation strategy is awaiting political will.

The researchers believe that intervention like India’s project tiger can help save the rhinoceros species.

“Serious effort by the government of Indonesia should be put to strengthen rhino protection by creating Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ), intensive survey of the current known habitats, habitat management, captive breeding, and mobilizing national resources and support from related local governments and other stakeholders”.

The rhinos are described by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) as the smallest of all rhinos – and it is the only Asian rhino with two horns.

Although rhinos used to roam freely across most of South-east Asia, they have been relentlessly poached due to the value of their horns on the black market.

Since 1984, 45 Sumatran rhinos were taken into the wild, but there has been no captive birth since 2001.

The nine in captivity span across several countries with one is held in the Cincinnati Zoo in the United States, three in Sabbah, Malaysia and five in a rhino sanctuary in Sumatra, Indonesia.