 Reference Base  The game animals of India, Burma, and Tibet, being a new ... |
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Lydekker, R., 1907. The game animals of India, Burma, and Tibet, being a new and revised edition of 'The great and small game of India, Burma, and Tibet'. London, Rowland Ward, pp. i-xv, 1-409
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| Location: |
Captive - Europe |
| Subject: |
Captivity - Zoo Records |
| Species: |
Sumatran Rhino |
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The type specimen of the hairy race of the Sumatran rhinoceros was a female, captured at Chittagong in the year 1868. When discovered by native hunters she was embedded in a quicksand, and well-nigh exhausted by her struggles to reach terra firma. By attaching ropes to her neck she was safely extricated from her perilous position, and fastened to a tree, where next morning she was found so refreshed and so violent that her captors were afraid to approach. Accordingly, a report of the capture was sent to Chittagong, and soon after a couple of English officials arrived with elephants, to one of which the rhinoceros was made fast, and, after some trouble, marched into the station, where she soon became tame. Eventually she was secured for the London Zoological Society, in whose Proceedings for 1872 her coloured portrait appeared. By a lucky coincidence, a specimen of the typical representative of the species was procured by the Society at the close of 1872, so that the two forms were exhibited side by side. While in the docks the Chittagong animal gave birth to a young one; and from certain facts that came to his knowledge, the late Mr. A. D. Bartlett was led to conclude that the period of gestation in the species.was only a little over seven months. According to an article by Mr. L. Wray in The Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, the Sumatran rhinoceros is becoming extremely scarce in the Dindings district of the Malay Peninsula, owing to persistent trapping on the part of the natives. The rhinoceroses are caught in deep concealed pitfalls made in their runs; and the Malays state that fifty individuals have been taken in this way in and near the Dindings alone. Catching and exporting these animals has, indeed, become a regular trade in the district for some years past, with the result that, whereas they were formerly quite common, they are now very scarce and difficult to trap.
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