Google – AFP, Kerry Sherdian (AFP), 27 July 2013
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Suci, a
female Sumatran rhino is shown at Cincinnati Zoo, July 23, 2013
(The Cincinnati
Zoo/AFP, Tom Uhlman/Michelle Curley)
|
WASHINGTON,
District of Columbia — In a desperate bid to preserve a critically endangered
species, a US zoo is taking the controversial step of trying to mate brother
and sister captive Sumatran rhinoceroses.
The
coupling of six-year-old Harapan and his older sister Suci could take place as
early as August at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, animal keepers say.
The tactic
has stirred strong emotions, but Terri Roth, director of the Lindner Center for
Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, said she has no other choice.
"We
are in a really tough spot and we just don't have any other options," she
told AFP.
Conservation
experts say there are as few as 100 Sumatran rhinos left in the wild in their
native lands of Indonesia and Malaysia.
In
captivity, there are only 10 in the world. Four of them are closely related,
with three having been bred in recent years at the Cincinnati Zoo.
A fourth
born in Indonesia last year that was the son of a Cincinnati-bred captive rhino
and a formerly wild rhino.
For Suci,
who is marking her ninth birthday next week, the only available suitors are her
relatives, Roth said.
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Graphic on
the critically endangered Sumatran rhino
(AFP Graphic)
|
The other
captive male of age in Indonesia is her older brother.
Harapan,
who is on the cusp of adulthood, was brought to Ohio earlier this month from his
previous home at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Artificial
insemination has never worked in Sumatran rhinos, so shipping sperm from a
genetically unique mate is not a viable alternative.
"Unless
Indonesia were to capture more animals and an unrelated male became available
to us, we don't have the genetic diversity that we need," Roth said.
In the
meantime, experts say female rhinos need to breed in order to keep their
reproductive organs from developing cysts that eventually render them
infertile.
"Female
rhinos, if they don't reproduce they tend to lose the ability to reproduce. It
is kind of use it or lose it with them," said Susie Ellis, executive
director of the International Rhino Foundation.
Ellis said
the population of Sumatran rhinos has dwindled dramatically due to humans
encroaching on their land and poaching for their horns, which some Asian
cultures believe carry healing powers though they consist of simple keratin,
the same protein as in nails, hair and hooves.
"The
species has really hit a crisis point," said Ellis.
"There
are maybe as few as 100 animals left in the wild."
Still, the
decision to breed siblings carries risks, including abnormalities, harmful
genetic mutations and poor sperm quality in the offspring.
"In
general, we are very much against the idea of breeding relatives because we
know that more often than not it causes problems," said David Wildt, head
of the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology
Institute.
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US-INDONESIA-ANIMAL-CONSERVATION (The Cincinnati Zoo/
AFP,
Michelle Curley)
|
"I
don't know if I would call it a solution. I think it is a strategy. And it
really opens up some healthy debate," he added.
"If
those were the last animals on the planet, what else would you do? But this
isn't the situation here, though. These aren't the last two animals on the
planet."
Zookeepers
are hopeful that the Indonesian government will take steps to capture some wild
rhinos that may be in isolation already due to deforestation, and add them to
their captive sanctuary population in order to boost breeding options.
Roth said
she was aware of the publicity the decision to mate siblings would bring --
both good and bad -- and she hopes it raises people's interest in preserving
the habitat of these precious creatures.
The
Sumatran rhino "is not like the giant panda that everybody knows about and
follows. I thought people need to know about this," she said.
"We
are about to lose this rhino quietly, without a whimper, and I don't want to
see that happen."
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