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| Location: |
Captive - North America |
| Subject: |
Captivity - Zoo Records |
| Species: |
Sumatran Rhino |
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The zoo is proud to announces that its female Sumatran rhinoceros, Emi, has completed her eighth month of gestation. In the next six to eight months, Emi is expected to produce her calf, an event that would be the most outstanding conservation achievement in the history of Cincinnati Zoo. The only record of a Sumatran rhino successfully breeding and producing a calf in captivity dates back 112 years to 1889 in Calcutta Zoo.
Dr Terri Roth, Director of Cincinnati's Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW), used ultrasound and hormone monitoring technology to learn about the reproductive cycle of the female Sumatran rhino. This knowledge and technology were then incorporated into the breeding program. This program has resulted in 23 matings between Ipuh and Emi with no injuries to either animal. Following the second successful mating in 1997, Emi became pregnant, and the zoo announced this pregnancy when the embryo was 29 days old. Unfortunately, this pregnancy was lost less than two weeks later. Emi has experienced pregnancy loss four more times, with all losses occurring within the first three months of gestation.
After much consultation at two international workshops attended by scientists and animal managers concerned about breeding this species, it was decided that the time had come to intervene. When Emi became pregnant for the sixth time, Dr Roth prescribed a daily dose of oral progesterone starting on the 16th day of pregnancy. This sixth pregnancy has now progressed to the eighth month, and the fetus appears to be healthy and growing. Although not much is known about gestation in this species, it is believed Emi has about eight months to go, and conservationists worldwide are becoming hopeful that, this time, she will carry the pregnancy to term. If successful, the event will become known among zoos as the most significant birth in more than a century and, hopefully, will be the turning point for the Sumatran rhino captive-breeding program.
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Cincinnati Zoo
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