My book ‘Sumatran rhino of Sabah'
I am thrilled that I have finally completed a book on the Sumatran rhino of Sabah.
A friend had suggested I call the book, the Sumatran rhino of Borneo.
I can see his point, as this subspecies is found in the world’s third largest island, Borneo.
They were freely roaming the tropical rainforest of Borneo in great abundance until the 80s when wildlife authority sadly confirmed their extinction in the land of the hornbills, Sarawak, and around about 2014, in the land below the wind, Sabah.
A latest article that I read has indicated that there were at least 15 rhinos in the vast forest of Kalimantan.
My book basically tries to explain how I got involved with the Sumatran rhino.
I graduated as a veterinarian in 1984 and was plunged into the rhino controversy in 1985.
At UPM, we were trained in farm animal production with few credit hours on wildlife.
Nevertheless, the basic principle of veterinary medicine is applicable to all animals, including human.
It is just a matter of reading and understanding the anatomy, physiology and biology of the species.
The thousands of scientific materials on the five species of rhinos, which included the Sumatran rhino, are available as reference.
In 1985, a team from the United States Zoo wanted to capture and relocate the Sabah rhinos to the United States for breeding.
The public was aroused and the new PBS government then decided to undertake the breeding in situ, that is, in Sabah, after listening to representations from the local university academicians. I was roped in as a representative from the Sabah Veterinary Department.
For more than a year my team and I were searching the rhinos in the wilderness, in the forest of Sabah. We were able to confirm their presence in Tabin Wildlife Reserve and the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve.
They were in the Yayasan Sabah concession areas. Interestingly, they were mainly confined to the east coast where I found the highest number of mud volcanoes.
I attended the first rhino casualty at Linbar, Sukau. It is now preserved at the Sabah Museum. The one trapping casualty led to many successful captures.
I was sent to Sepilok to take care of the orangutan after the PBS government collapsed in 1994.
I spent six years at the centre and one of my major contributions was on the orangutan and elephant translocation exercises and the setting up of the wildlife clinic. I authored and co-authored many scientific papers.
At Sepilok, I found that there was no serious attempt to breed the animals. Thus, my work on the five captive Sumatran rhinos was the highlight of my career.
For years, there was no breakthrough in the breeding of Sumatran rhino in captivity worldwide. All four centres, at Cincinnati Zoo USA, Sg. Dusun Selangor, Way Kambas Sumatra and Sepilok Sabah, had nasty experiences when they tried to join the male and female rhinos.
The females were badly bruised with deep long wounds on their body caused by the male’s long tusks or canine teeth. Their unique penis was thought to be the hindrance.
While supervising my Japanese Masters student studying the mouse deer, I came across an article on the breeding of the mouse deer or pelanduk. It was from here that I replicated the breeding technique to the Sumatran rhinos.
After four months of monitoring, I finally found the window, the so-called estrus period or the moment of receptiveness of the female to the male. On October 26 and 28, 1995, I had two female rhinos bred naturally without any untoward incident.
My article in the journal, Pachyderm, was noticed by a Sumatran rhino keeper at Cincinnati Zoo. After failing to get information via the phone, Steve Romo came over to Sepilok to find out more about the natural breeding of the rhinos here.
In no time, Romo was successful in getting the first captive born Sumatran rhino. It was no plain sailing though as there were complications along the way. Romo was losing the fetus between 45–60 days.
My book is about my role and that of the Sabah Wildlife Department in opening the window to natural breeding of the rare and endangered Sumatran rhino.
This has allowed the birth of many Sumatran rhinos at Cincinnati and Way Kambas. Today, the race to prevent Sumatran rhino extinction is to quickly capture the remaining animals in the forest and place them into captive breeding facilities.