Malaysian wildlife officials in Borneo will try to artificially inseminate an elderly female rhinoceros in a bid to revive one of the world’s most endangered species.
Gelegub, a Sumatran rhino who at 28 years old is equivalent to a 70-something grandmother in human terms, will be impregnated with sperm from a virile young male rhino.
“Gelegub is too old to mate normally and the mating ritual of rhinos is quite violent so this would be one of the best ways to try and get her pregnant and give birth to a rhino in captivity,” said Sen Nathan, coordinator of the Borneo Rhino Sanctuary where the procedure will be carried out.
Nathan said the only breeding facility in the world that has had any success in producing Sumatran rhino calves in captivity is the Cincinnati Zoo in the US, which has produced three calves over the last decade.
“Our priority of course is to have natural mating in the first place but at the moment we only have one male rhino in captivity and Gelegub is the only other viable female that we have,” he told AFP.
“It is critical that we try and get the rhinos to reproduce as there are only 50 such rhinos in the region and without reproduction, they face imminent extinction.”
Nathan said Gelegub will be injected with hormones in November to stimulate the production of eggs, which will be removed and fertilized, hopefully producing viable embryos for implantation.
Spare embryos will be frozen for implantation in surrogates at a later date.
Between 30 to 50 of the Borneo sub-species of the Sumatran rhinos are known to remain in the wild in Borneo.(afp)
馬來西亞婆羅州野生動物當局近日將嘗試人工授精一頭年邁母犀牛，以保存世界上最稀有的犀牛品種之一。
潔蕾姑是一頭二十八歲的母蘇門達臘犀牛，相當於人類一位七十歲的老奶奶。她將植入另一頭精力充沛公犀牛的精子受孕。
婆羅州犀牛保護區聯絡員森•納坦表示，「潔蕾姑年幾已大，無法以正常的方式交配，而犀牛的交配方式相當的猛烈，所以這將是讓她受孕最好的方式之一，並讓她在人工飼養的情況下生產。」潔蕾姑將於保護區受孕。
納坦說，世界上唯一成功地以人工飼養生產蘇門達臘小犀牛的，就是美國的辛辛那提動物園，過去十年有三隻小犀牛出生。
他告訴法新社，「我們當然比較想用自然受孕，但此時只有一頭公犀牛為人工飼養，而潔蕾姑是我們唯一能夠受孕的母犀牛。」
「目前這個區域只有五十頭這種犀牛，所以我們繁殖這些犀牛是很重要的。不繁殖的話，牠們便面臨絕種。」
納坦說，潔蕾姑將於十一月份注射荷爾蒙，刺激牠產生卵子，隨後將取出卵子並使之受孕，希望如此能獲得可用的胚胎，再植入牠體內。
其他的胚胎將冰凍起來，等待日後植入別的代理孕母。
目前大約有三十到五十頭婆羅州種的蘇門達臘犀牛尚於婆羅州維持野生狀態。（法新社�翻譯：吳岱璟）
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