How can we save the Sumatran rhino from extinction?

How can we save the Sumatran rhino from extinction?

To save the Sumatran rhino, WWF is working to grow population numbers by fighting wildlife crime and protecting their habitat. We’re consolidating the remaining animals into a small number of intensively managed sites, while prioritizing captive breeding as a conservation approach.

What will happen if Sumatran rhinos go extinct?

Without rhinos helping to sustain plant biodiversity and grazing lawns, the African savannas will become less hospitable to other herbivore species. One species that would be impacted is the critically endangered dama gazelle, which is estimated to have a population of just 500.

How does the Sumatran rhino protect itself?

A rhino can get a layer of bug defense with a nice wallow in the mud, but it gets an extra hand defending its skin against pests with the help of “tick birds.” The sub-Saharan oxpeckers eat ticks, flies, fleas and lice, and also help remove earwax and grease from the rhino’s body.

What adaptations do Sumatran rhinos have?

The Sumatran rhino has a number of adaptations that help it survive and live in its natural habitat. One is that they have a prehensile, or mobile and flexible, upper lip. They can use it in much the same way as an elephant uses its trunk, to pick up things from the ground, or get food off of plants.

Who is helping the Sumatran rhino?

In 1996, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) built the 250-acre Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in partnership with local NGO Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI). Located in the heart of Way Kambas National Park on the island of Sumatra, the SRS is home to the only reproductively viable captive Sumatran rhinos in the world.

Why is the Sumatran rhino important?

(Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) The Sumatran rhino is the most endangered of all rhinoceros species due to its rapid rate of decline. Continued protection, combined with consolidating small, fragmented populations into larger ones, and intensifying captive breeding efforts, are the best hope for the species’ survival.

Why is it important to save the rhinos?

Rhinos have been around for millions of years and play a crucial role in their ecosystem. By helping protect rhinos, we’re helping to conserve their habitat for the benefit of people and wildlife, helping support local communities and making sure natural resources are available for generations to come.

What adaptations do rhinos have to survive?

Adaptations

• They have a prehensile lip which they use to grasp and strip leaves and bark from woody plants.
• Rhinos have thick but sensitive skin.
• Rhinos walk on their toes!
• Rhino horns are primarily used for protection.
• A rhino’s best senses are hearing and smell.

How long has the Sumatran rhino been endangered?

The species was declared extinct in the wild on mainland Malaysia in 2015 and Malaysian Borneo in 2019. Sumatran rhinos exist only in protected areas where they are physically guarded by Rhino Protection Units (southern Sumatra) and Wildlife Protection Units (northern Sumatra).

What contributed to the extinction of the Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia?

The Sumatran rhino, by far the smallest of the living rhinoceros species, has plummeted in numbers as a result of habitat loss and poaching.

Why are rhinos getting extinct?

Initially, numbers dropped due to hunting, but today the main threats to rhino are poaching and habitat loss. Poaching and illegal trade of rhino horn has increased sharply since 2007 and remains one of the major reasons rhino are still endangered today. Habitat loss is the other major threat to rhino populations.

Are Sumatran rhinoceros on the verge of extinction?

The Sumatran Rhino is on the verge of extinction. At present rates of destruction, in about 25 years there will be no rainforests outside protected areas in Malaysia, already void of Sumatran Rhinoceroses, nor in Indonesia. Many fewer than 100 Sumatran Rhinos remain in fragmented populations in Sumatra and Borneo.

What does a Sumatran rhinoceros look like?

Calves are born with a dense covering that turns reddish-brown in young adults and becomes sparse, bristly and almost black in older animals. Sumatran rhinos compete with the Javan rhino for the unenviable title of most threatened rhino species.

What do Sumatran rhinos eat?

This species is a browser and an opportunistic feeder with a very varied diet that may include more than 100 plant species. Sumatran rhinos live between 35 and 40 years. Gestation lasts approximately 15-16 months, and cows are believed to give birth to one calf about every 3 years. These tropical forest dwellers are generally solitary in nature.

What is the closest living relative of the Sumatran rhino?

Sumatran rhinos are the extinct species’ closest living relative, so his team first sequenced the genome of Kertam, a captive male Sumatran rhino then living at the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Malaysia, to use as a reference guide.