TUARAN -- Despite all the odds against the Sumatran rhinoceros, the species "stubbornly refuses to go extinct", an official here said.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Nayan Ambu said this was the main good news derived from the first day of the Sumatran rhinoceros Global Management and Propagation Board meeting held here.
He said there were still Sumatran rhinos in the same protected areas which were their strongholds in 1995, namely in Bukit Barisan Selatan, Way Kambas and Gunung Leuser in Sumatra, Indonesia, and Danum Valley and the Tabin Wildlife reserve, both in Sabah.
"Also potentially a good news is we can confirm that the Sumatran and Borneo rhinos are genetically close. We may be confident that mixing the two for breeding does have scientific backing.
"In any case, we know that pregnancy in the Sumatran rhino is likely to be the best way to prevent the reproductive tract pathologies which afflict this species," he said at dinner in conjunction with the meeting here, Tuesday night.
The two-day meeting from Tuesday, is the first GMPB meeting to be held in Malaysia, and represents the first international meeting of Sumatran rhino experts to be held in Sabah since 1995.
Laurentius said however that the prospects for the Sumatran rhino remain bleak, where their population in the wild appeared to continue to decline or at best, not increasing despite the best efforts to protect their habitat as well as the rhinos.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Nayan Ambu said this was the main good news derived from the first day of the Sumatran rhinoceros Global Management and Propagation Board meeting held here.
He said there were still Sumatran rhinos in the same protected areas which were their strongholds in 1995, namely in Bukit Barisan Selatan, Way Kambas and Gunung Leuser in Sumatra, Indonesia, and Danum Valley and the Tabin Wildlife reserve, both in Sabah.
"Also potentially a good news is we can confirm that the Sumatran and Borneo rhinos are genetically close. We may be confident that mixing the two for breeding does have scientific backing.
"In any case, we know that pregnancy in the Sumatran rhino is likely to be the best way to prevent the reproductive tract pathologies which afflict this species," he said at dinner in conjunction with the meeting here, Tuesday night.
The two-day meeting from Tuesday, is the first GMPB meeting to be held in Malaysia, and represents the first international meeting of Sumatran rhino experts to be held in Sabah since 1995.
Laurentius said however that the prospects for the Sumatran rhino remain bleak, where their population in the wild appeared to continue to decline or at best, not increasing despite the best efforts to protect their habitat as well as the rhinos.
Continue reading at: Sumatran Rhinos Not Extinct But Face Bleak Prospects
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