For two rhino species on brink of extinction, it’s collaboration vs. stonewalling
Fatu doesn’t seem to care about the carrot she’s been offered by her caretaker. She raises her enormous head and gives it a sniff before returning to what she was…
COVID-19 halts matchmaking attempt for female Sumatran rhino in Borneo
SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The search for a potential mate for a captive female Sumatran rhinoceros in Indonesian Borneo has been put on hold for the year, one of many activities…
Marcellus Adi Riyanto: The Indonesian vet who lived for the Sumatran rhino
Camera traps monitor a handful of the world’s remaining Sumatran rhinos in Sumatra’s Way Kambas National Park. Wildlife managers tend to a female rhino at a breeding center in Kalimantan,…
Poaching in Indonesia’s biodiverse Leuser Ecosystem on the rise amid COVID-19
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Wildlife poaching is on the rise in a key Sumatran habitat that’s home to some of the rarest species on Earth. But hunters in the Leuser…
A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID-19 measures
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A much-anticipated plan to establish a new rhino-breeding sanctuary in northern Sumatra is one of many that has been put on hold in the wake of…
U.S. fund that supports Sumatran rhino research faces deep cuts under Trump
The Sumatran rhinoceros — the smallest, hairiest and most endangered of all rhino species — is today only found in Indonesia. But for a quarter century, the remaining few have…
Reproductive woes spell need for more viable females in Sumatran rhino program
JAKARTA — More fertile female Sumatran rhinos should be captured from the wild for breeding programs to save the species, scientists say, citing the prevalence of reproductive problems. Working specifically…
Poaching and the problem with conservation in Africa (commentary)
Poaching is threatening wildlife conservation in Africa. Elephant (Loxodonta africana) and rhino (Ceratotherium simum and Diceros bicornis) populations have been devastated and the bush meat trade is severely impacting wildlife…
Rhino poaching in South Africa declines for fifth straight year
South Africa reports that rhino poaching has declined for a fifth straight year in the country, with 594 rhino poached in 2019, down from the 769 rhino killed for their…
Indonesia-WWF split puts rhino breeding project in Borneo in limbo
JAKARTA — The acrimonious end to a partnership between WWF and Indonesia’s environment ministry threatens to derail a crucial program to breed Sumatran rhinos in captivity, widely seen as the…
Indonesian officials wield sharia law in defense of Sumatran rhinos
EAST LAMPUNG, Indonesia — The government of the Indonesian province of Aceh, notorious for public canings carried out under sharia law, plans to put that same strict Islamic jurisprudence to…
Audio: Ami Vitale on how meeting Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, changed her life
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with Ami Vitale, a photographer for National Geographic who documented the death of the last male northern white rhino, Sudan. Listen…
Love triangle complicates efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos
EAST LAMPUNG, Indonesia — Efforts to breed the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in captivity have faced numerous challenges. Breeding programs have been plagued by mysterious deaths, reproductive health…
Indonesia to capture 3 wild Sumatran rhinos to add to breeding population
EAST LAMPUNG, Indonesia — Officials in Indonesia say they hope to capture three Sumatran rhinos from the wild for a recently expanded sanctuary where experts are carrying out breeding attempts…
Newly spotted calves boost Javan rhino population to 72
JAKARTA — The global population of the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros has increased to 72 after four new calves were spotted in the past several months. Rhino experts have welcomed…
Time is running out for Southeast Asia
On Nov. 23, the last Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia died. Named Iman, she’d lived in captivity in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo for just over five…
Malaysia’s last Sumatran rhino dies, leaving Indonesia as the final refuge
The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is now extinct in Malaysia following the death of its last captive individual, Iman, over the weekend. The fate of this critically endangered species now…
Indonesia plans IVF for recently captured Sumatran rhino
EAST LAMPUNG, Indonesia — Indonesian authorities will make their first attempt at in vitro fertilization of a Sumatran rhino, aiming to boost the critically endangered species’ gene pool in the…
Malaysian attempt at Sumatran rhino IVF fails on low quality of sperm
JAKARTA — A recent effort by scientists to produce a Sumatran rhino embryo using egg and sperm samples taken from the last of the species in Malaysia has failed, according…
At India’s Assam Zoo, decades of experience lead to rhino-breeding success
GUWAHATI, India — One August afternoon in 1991, rangers at India's Kaziranga National Park rescued a startled rhino calf. The young female, believed to be just a few months old,…
Legal and illegal trade negatively impacting survival and wellbeing of Africa’s wildlife: Report
A new report finds that both legal and illegal trade are detrimental to the conservation of Africa’s iconic wildlife. Released last week by the London-based NGO World Animal Protection to…
For India’s flood-hit rhinos, refuge depends increasingly on humans
When the flood waters began to rise in India’s Kaziranga National Park in July, five greater one-horned rhino calves found themselves separated from their mothers and stranded in deep water.…
Sumatra survey looks to identify at-risk rhinos for captive breeding
As Indonesia prepares to launch a new captive-breeding facility for Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in the northern province of Aceh, authorities and conservationists are intensifying efforts to survey and protect…
Bid to breed Sumatran rhino is handicapped by bureaucratic ‘quibbling’
JAKARTA — Scientists attempting a last-ditch attempt to breed the most threatened rhino species on Earth say they’re not hopeful about their latest effort, blaming government inaction for holding back…
On World Rhino Day, looking back on an eventful year
September 22 marks World Rhino Day, a global event established to celebrate the world's five rhinoceros species, as well as to reflect on the challenges facing them. Of the five…
Nepal to conduct, self-fund, rhino census in March 2020
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal's government plans to conduct a census of greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) in March 2020, a year after postponing the count due to lack of funds.…
Malawi sentences pangolin smugglers, cracks down on wildlife crime
In May this year, following multiple joint operations by the Malawi Police Service and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, three Malawian and nine Chinese nationals were arrested in…
Calls for natural solution over man-made one in flood-ravaged rhino refuge
Last month, an image of a tiger fleeing from the floods that inundated much of Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam in India went viral on social…
Death on the Brahmaputra: The rhino, the rangers, and the usual suspects
Mongabay investigates the disappearance, death and discovery of a wandering rhino in Northeast India.
Europe-bred rhinos join South African cousins to repopulate Rwanda park
Five eastern black rhinos translocated from European zoos to Rwanda's Akagera National Park have successfully completed an initial period of acclimatization and been moved into larger, 1-hectare (2.5-acre) enclosures. They…
