3-Oct-09 4:00 PM CST

Rhino's Death Not Knell for Species

When a 21-year-old Sumatran rhinoceros named Emi died last month at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, the world lost its only such animal that has given birth successfully in captivity.

But hope still remains for the survival of the species.

"It's not an ending point. She left us (three) great calves," says Terri Roth, the zoo's vice president of conservation and science and director of the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW).

Roth knows better than anyone that huge challenges must be overcome if the Sumatran rhino is to avoid the fate of creatures such as the woolly mammoth and passenger pigeon.

When Roth arrived at the Cincinnati Zoo 13 years ago, an estimated 400 Sumatran rhinos roamed in the wild. Today in small pockets of Indonesia and Malaysia there are about half that many.

She pioneered a captive breeding program that has been hailed as one of the best hopes for the species' survival. Its successes made headlines worldwide.

Eight years ago, Emi gave birth to a calf named Andalas, marking the first time since 1889 that a Sumatran rhino had been bred and born in captivity.

Emi and her breeding partner, Ipuh, then produced two more calves. Suci, a female, was born in 2004, and Harapan, a male, in 2007.

Cincinnati is the only zoo in the world with a breeding program for Sumatran rhinos. The only other captive breeding facility is in Sumatra, but it has not produced any pregnancies.

"It's a flagship species for us, no doubt," says zoo executive director Thane Maynard. Emi, he adds, "did not just have a following in Cincinnati. She had a following worldwide."

She was the only breeding female in captivity.

"It's a huge loss," says Roth, who was in Ecuador, on her way to the Galapagos Islands, when she got word of the rhino's death. The cause has not been determined, but it's believed she had a liver problem, Roth says. The zoo is awaiting reports from two pathologists.

Now, Roth says, hopes for the zoo's breeding program rest with Suci, who is nearing sexual maturity.

"That young female is very important," Roth says. "We think that probably in 2010 she will be ready to breed."

Suci is one of only 10 Sumatran rhinos in captivity. Five are in Sumatra, two are in Malaysia, and three are in the U.S. (Suci and Ipuh in Cincinnati; Harapan at White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Fla.)

To maintain genetic diversity, Suci will be matched with an unrelated male.

But rather than bring a rhino to Cincinnati, the plan is to collect semen so Suci can be artificially inseminated, Roth says. That was the recommendation of the Sumatran Rhino Global Management and Propagation Board, which manages the global population.

"Natural breeding has got to be part of the program, but in certain cases it might help us to move genes around and not the animals," Roth says. "Moving animals is so expensive, and people are so resistant to do it."

But artificial insemination has its own obstacles.

"Is it possible to get over to Southeast Asia, collect semen from an unrelated male, freeze it, import it into the United States, and use that semen to produce a pregnancy in Suci? It's a huge challenge," Roth says. "But really everything surrounding this program is a huge challenge."

Roth, who might go to Southeast Asia within a month, has faced big challenges before. Emi had five miscarriages before Andalas was born.

Roth believes the artificial insemination program the zoo developed with Indian rhinos can be applied to Sumatran rhinos.

While the zoo's breeding program is important, Maynard says that rescuing Sumatran rhinos from the brink of extinction will require a broad effort involving the global conservation community and the U.S., Indonesian, and Malaysian governments. Forests where the rhinos live must be protected, and poaching must be stopped.

Meanwhile, the loss of Emi still affects Roth.

"It's hard," she says. "The calves were great, but they weren't her. She was my favorite, by far. Probably partly because of all the time I spent working with her, but also just because of her character."

Emi wasn't cute and cuddly like some zoo animals. She liked to wallow in mud. But she was playful and amiable, and a most cooperative subject for the scientist.

Her offspring, Suci, showed those same characteristics the other day when Roth stepped into her yard to have a photograph taken.

Now the question is whether Suci can duplicate her mother's breeding success, which would offer additional hope for the survival of a species.

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