The last male of the Sumatran rhino is dead, but the species is not extinct. How can this be?

Sumatran rhinos are on the edgecomplete extinction since 2015, since it was then that only two representatives of this species remained in the world. The other day, another nail was hammered into the coffin of rare rhinos - Malaysian Minister of Tourism and the Environment announced that the last male of this species, Tam, died in the Tabin wildlife sanctuary. Now only a female named Iman is listed as living, but there is still little hope of a revival of the species.

Rhino Tam was caught on the oilseed plantationpalm trees of Tawau in August 2010 - then he was 20 years old. During his stay in the reserve, his condition greatly deteriorated, and in April 2019 he lost his appetite and lost his strength. The cause of death is still unknown, but employees of the reserve suspect that his kidneys and liver have failed. Aging could indeed cause death, because Sumatran rhinos rarely live to 35-40 years.

A rare species of rhinos almost extinct

Attempts to dissolve Tam and Iman have failed,therefore, in 2017, the male was euthanized. Just in case, the staff of the reserve have preserved its genome - perhaps thanks to the technologies of the future, with the help of it the view can be restored. It is also possible that in nature the males of Sumatran rhinos still remain, and people have yet to find them.

The reduction in the number of rhinos associated withpoaching It is believed that their horns have healing properties, so the kilogram horn is estimated at 30 thousand dollars. They were hunted for a long time - back in the 1970s, the inhabitants of the island of Sumatra used parts of the body of rhinos to make amulets and antidotes.

Recall that in 2018, the last male white rhinoceros died. He was put to death specially, as he suffered from severe degenerative disease. More information about this can be found in our material.

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