KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife experts are hopeful for the future of the highly endangered Sumatran rhino following the discovery of a 20-year-old pregnant female.
A picture of the female rhino was captured by remote camera traps set up jointly by the Sabah Wildlife Department and WWF-Malaysia on the state’s east coast.
International rhino expert Dr Terri Roth said she hoped that the female was indeed pregnant.
“There are so few Sumatran rhinos left in the world that each calf represents a lifeline for the species,” she said here yesterday.
Photographic proof: The female rhino captured by remote camera traps in Sabah .
There are fewer than 30 Sumatran rhinos left on the entire island of Borneo
State Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said it was working with WWF-Malaysia and the Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora) to finalise a Rhino Action Plan, expected to be fully implemented by August.
The plan, he added, would address the conservation of viable population, including rhinos in isolated groups, using a “different approach” to manage it.
“Habitat protection and enforcement have been recognised as the main strategies in ensuring the survival of the rhino population in forest reserves.
“At the same time, a breeding programme has been identified as the key strategy to address the conservation plan for isolated rhinos,” said Dr Laurentius.
The rhino breeding programme is currently supported by Sime Darby, the Federal Government and WWF-Malaysia.
WWF-Malaysia’s Head of the Borneo Species Programme Raymond Alfred said the future of the animals in Borneo now depended on how seriously the enforcement and security work in forest reserves could be implemented and coordinated.
He said data from an ongoing rhino monitoring and survey programme showed the animals’ home range to be affected by the expansion of oil palm plantations near the state’s coastal areas.
The research, he said, indicated that sustainable logging activities had minimal impact on the rhinos while conversion of forests, especially those located next to key habitats, into mono-crop plantations such as oil palm would further worsen the fragmentation of the population.
WWF-Malaysia is working with the department and the Sabah Forestry Department to look into reinforcing the security of the forest reserves that were key habitats for the animals.
The monitoring and survey work in the central forest of Sabah
Source: The Star Online
Date: April 21, 2010
By: Ruben Sario
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