Cincinnati Zoo to Mate Sibling Sumatran Rhinos to Save Their Species

Scientists at the Cincinnati Zoo are planning on conserving an endangered rhino species by mating "Harapan," a six-year-old male Sumatran rhino with its nine-year-old sister "Suci".  There are 100 Sumatran rhinos on the planet and just two in the U.S., which has led scientists to planning the new breeding program.

Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) are the smallest of the rhinos found in Asia and the only ones to have two horns. They are more closely related to woolly mammoth than the other rhino species. Poaching and human habitat intervention has resulted in these rhinos becoming critically endangered, according to WWF.

Harapan was one of the three rhinos that were successfully born at the Cincinnati Zoo since 2001. Scientists at the Lindner Center for Conservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) said that mating siblings is their only hope of saving the species. Inbreeding is generally avoided to maximize the genetic diversity, but scientists said that they had to make an exception in this case.

"No one wants to breed siblings, it is something we strive to avoid, but when a species drops below 100 individuals, producing more offspring as quickly as possible trumps concerns about genetic diversity. We are down to the last male and female Sumatran rhino on the continent, and I am not willing to sit idle and watch the last of a species go extinct," said Dr. Terri Roth, Vice President of Conservation and Science and Director of CREW at the Cincinnati Zoo.

According to scientists, increasing the Sumatran rhino population is a complex problem; Firstly, there aren't many individuals left in the wild; Secondly, there are many restrictions in obtaining gametes for artificial reproduction; Thirdly, maintaining a Sumatran rhino is expensive as they have a varied diet and lastly, the funds to protect wildlife go into conserving pandas and tigers that gain more public sympathy while the equally endangered Sumatran rhino remains unknown.

To increase the number of rhinos in captivity, the Cincinnati and Los Angeles Zoos have partnered with many organizations such as the International Rhino Foundation, the Indonesian Rhino Foundation, SOS Rhino and World Wildlife.

"The captive breeding program in the US has been the most significant contributor to the survival of the Sumatran rhino in recent years and in particular the progress that the Cincinnati Zoo has made in determining the reproductive strategy of this species," said Jeff Holland, Mammal Curator, at the Los Angeles Zoo, according to a press release.

Learn more about the Zoo's efforts in conserving the species here.