Caught on film: World's rarest rhino having a mud bath... and she's PREGNANT
One of the world's most endangered rhinos has been caught on camera having a mud bath- and the female appears to be pregnant.
Conservationists say the image of the Sumatran rhinoceros - captured on Borneo island - raises hopes that the species is breeding in the wild.
A remotely controlled camera set up in a forest in Sabah state on Borneo captured a still picture of the rhino on February 25, said Raymond Alfred of the World Wildlife Fund.
It is the first such image in the wild of a female thought to be pregnant, providing cheer to conservationists after the initial failure of a breeding-in-captivity programme for the Borneo Sumatran rhino, whose numbers are believed to have dwindled to less than 30.
Conservationists celebrate: A Borneo Sumatran rhino who conservationists believe to be pregnant, in eastern Sabah state of Malaysia, raising hopes that the critically endangered species on Borneo island are breeding
'The size (of the rhino) is quite extraordinary,' Alfred told The Associated Press. 'Based on the shape and the size of the body and stomach,' it would appear that the rhino is pregnant.
But it is difficult to be conclusive on the basis of the picture alone, he said.
Another 50 cameras have been set up in the area to gather more evidence about the female, which appears to be 20 years old, he said, adding that researchers were also trying to find its dung for analysis.
Government officials and WWF experts had set up the first camera in January and retrieved it last week, Alfred said.
The picture shows the Borneo Sumatran rhino - a subspecies of the bristly, snub-nosed rhino native to Indonesia's Sumatra island - wallowing in the soil to cool off and protect her body.
'The most important thing now is to ensure that this area is protected from logging activity,' he said, declining to disclose the rhino's exact whereabouts.
Malaysia's Borneo Sumatran rhino population has declined from some 200 about a half-century ago as they are hunted for Chinese medicine and crowded out through deforestation and palm oil plantations.
Conservationists have warned the rhinos could face extinction in the next 10 years.
Alfred said conservationists have tried but so far failed to rescue isolated rhinos that have been cut off from the rest by deforestation and make them breed.
Only one male rhino named Tam was rescued in the last two years. It was hoped Tam would mate with a female in captivity, but she turned out to be too old to reproduce, Alfred said.
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