Sumatran rhino extinct in Malaysia as lone survivor dies

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Sumatran rhinoceros has become extinct in Malaysia, after the last of the species in the country died Saturday.

The Wildlife Department in eastern Sabah state on Borneo island said the rhino, named Iman, died of natural causes due to shock in her system. She had uterine tumors since her capture in March 2014.

Department director

Augustine Tuuga said Iman, who reportedly was 25, was suffering from growing pressure of the tumors to her bladder.

It came six months after the death of the country’s only male rhino in Sabah.

The Sumatra rhino is the smallest of the rhinoceros species and the only rhino with two horns. A conservation group estimates there are only about 80 left, mostly in the wild in Sumatra and Borneo.