 Reference Base  Past and future breeding of the Indian rhinoceros in capt... |
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| Location: |
Captive |
| Subject: |
Ecology - Population |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
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We found high juvenile mortality in both sexes, 23% for males, 30% for females. Offspring of primiparous dams suffered higher juvenile mortality (40%) than those of multiparous dams (17%).
Infant survivorship (live-birth to 6 months) was 87.7 % for males and 85.7 % for females.
If stillbirths are included, infant survivorship (birth to 6 months) was 66.9 % for males, 70.4 % for females.
75 % of all juvenile deaths (n=16, excluding stillbirths) occurred on the day of birth or the next day.
Juvenile and young adult survivorship (6 mo to 12 yrs) was high, on average >99% p.a.
Males and females did not differ in survivorship.
We found no correlation between juvenile mortality and the inbreeding coefficient.
All studies carried out in the wild state that the mortality of calves is approximately 10% and that a large proportion of this mortality is caused by tiger predation. In captivity, juvenile mortality is higher, even though there is no tiger predation. We suspect that a proportion of neonatal deaths escaped observation in the wild.
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