animalphiles

Endangered feces: give some rhino poop this holiday

Can't quite decide what to buy that special someone who has everything? How about some animal excrement, specifically the poop of endangered rhinos.

The International Rhino Foundation is running eBay auctions on four pieces of dung and will use the proceeds to fund conservation efforts.

The pieces come from four of the five types of rhino: white, black, Indian and Sumatran. The Javan rhino  is so rare, a sample could not be collected.

Each piece is dried, mounted in a clear trophy case and marked with the type of rhino that produced it.

Rhinos are plant eaters. White and Greater one-horned rhinos are grazers that spend their days much like cows and horses, munching away on grasses and shoots. Black, Sumatran, and Javan rhinos are browsers, and have a prehensile upper lip that is adapted to allow them to twist and break twigs and leaves. Much of what rhinos eat is low in nutrients, so they tend to wander around their habitat and eat on the go. And, well, eating a lot leads to pooping a lot.

Rhinos prune bushes and small trees and shrubs as they eat, and when they poop, they disperse seeds, which eventually germinate and grow. Rhinos that poop in water can indirectly provide nutrients for other species, like fish, which eat their dung. These are just a few of the important roles rhinos play in maintaining the health of the ecosystems in which they live.

Because the plants that rhinos eat are often difficult to digest, a lot can be learned by taking a close look at rhino dung. If you break it apart, you can often tell what a rhino has been eating.

Most rhinos use piles of dung to leave “messages” for other rhinos - nuances in the of smell of dung can tell a rhino a lot about others in the area. Each rhino’s smell identifies its owner as unique - the smell is different for young vs. adult animals, for males vs. females, and females in estrus vs. non-reproductive females. Combined with urine left along trails, dung piles create invisible “borders” around a rhino’s territory.

Only about 17,500 rhinos remain in the wild with another 1,200 living in captivity.

Join the International Rhino Foundation or participate in their Adopt-a-Rhino program.

New efforts to save Nepal's rare rhinos

Conservationists have announced new plans to bolster the declining numbers of the one-horned Asian rhino in Nepal, where poaching has reduced the population to fewer than 400.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), National Trust for Nature Conservation, Nepal, and Nepalese government will work on anti-poaching and surveying projects. Specially-trained rangers will work in communities to discourage poaching and to encourage active conservation.

Dr. Richard Kock, ZSL conservation programme manager, said that the new rhino plan is a "fantastic step forward" for the species' conservation. The shift in government towards a more inclusive democracy in Nepal mean that we can finally start to address the current conservation crisis."

Rhino mom sets record

A Sumatran rhino at the Cincinnati Zoo has given birth to her third calf - setting a record for a rhino mom in captivity. The latest birth is renewing hopes for the critically endangered species (only about 300 Sumatran rhinos survive).

The mother, Emi, delivered her 86-pound baby boy Sunday. Both are said to be in excellent condition.

"He's doing awesome - an extremely healthy boy," said Dr. Terri Roth, the zoo's vice president of conservation, science and living collections. "He got up quickly and began nursing soon after. And he's a really big boy at 86 pounds."

Zoo visitors will have to wait to meet him. The baby is off display, bonding with Emi and gaining strength. But you can watch a video of his birth on the Cincinatti Enquirer's Web site.

The public should be able to meet him within two weeks, just in time for the May 12 opening of Zoo Babies.  In the meantime, suggest a name for the baby.

"Stud" Rhino gets pampered

Massages and foot rubs might put you in the mood for love. But how about mud?  Andalas, a Sumatran rhino from the Los Angeles Zoo is getting all that, and more, at his new home at a sanctuary in Sumatra.

The idea is to keep him fat and happy so that he'll want to breed. Keepers hand-feed him his favorite ficus leaves, play hide-and-seek with him in the rain forest, gently nuzzle him nose to horn, and massage his cracked feet along with the soft spots of his ample butt. They also provide an ample mud wallow so he can keep cool and comfortable.

The future of the species, which has dwindled to about 300, may be riding on Andalas' hairy shoulders. Poachers and illegal logging have decimated the population. Illegal trafficking in the animals' horns feeds Asia's lucrative black market for aphrodisiacs and other traditional medicines.

Efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos in zoos have largely failed and captive breeding programs may hinge on whether Andalas successfully mates.
photo: Paul Watson/LATimes

Rare rhino caught on tape

A video “camera trap” positioned inside the jungle has captured rare footage of an elusive Borneo rhino.

The 2 minute video — showing the animal eating, walking to the camera and sniffing the equipment — is the first-ever footage of observing the behaviour in the wild of one of the world’s rarest rhinos.

Scientists estimate there are only between 25 and 50 rhinos left on the island of Borneo. These last survivors of the Bornean subspecies of Sumatran rhinos are believed to remain only in the interior forests of Sabah, Malaysia — an area known as the “Heart of Borneo.” The rhinos are so secretive that the first-ever still photo of one was captured last year.

The rhinos in Sabah spend their lives in dense jungle where they are rarely seen, which accounts for the lack of any previous photographs of them in the wild.

The video camera trap that captured the rhino footage was developed by Stephen Hogg, Head of Audio Visual at WWF-Malaysia. After successfully testing the newly developed camera trap on Malayan tigers in Peninsula Malaysia, it was set up in Sabah to capture the Sumatran rhino. Photos and video footage can determine the condition of rhinos, help identify individual animals and show how they behave in the wild.

The WWF's video link is broken, but the video should eventually show up here.

Special rhino calf makes debut

From Reuters:
The world's first rhino calf born through artificial insemination is drawing thrilled crowds at the Budapest Zoo, where she made her debut today.

The first appearance by the two-and-a-half-month old was at a naming ceremony, where she was dubbed Layla - the choice of a public vote.

"Every new life is a miracle and we have had the fortune of being part of an even more special kind when this vigorous and playful calf came to light," Budapest Zoo Director Ilma Bogsch told journalists.

Like Knut, the polar bear who has reached celebrity status in Germany, Layla was rejected by her mother at birth and is being raised by zookeepers.

"Based upon the first tests she is in top condition, but it is also important to train her socially and today's event is a good opportunity for that," zoo vet Endre Sos said.

"It is very cute. I just did not expect it to be so big," Abraham Vitez, 5, said.    

The Southern White Rhino -- which is from Africa -- was one of the first kind of rhino to reach the brink of extinction in our lifetime, according to the International Rhino Foundation.
See more great photos of Layla at Reuters.com.

This egg hunt not Easter-related

A vet at Beekse Bergen safari park in the southern Netherlands says this was not a job you'd want to try on your own. He and a team of other experts harvested eggs from a 5,000 pound southern white rhino.

The rhino, named Ans, was sedated and laid on her side while doctors mined her ovaries. The eggs will be inseminated and frozen for later use in surrogate mother rhinos.

Zoo officials believe the procedure, performed Thursday, was the first of its kind to be successful.
AP Photo/Persburo Van Eijndhoven

New threats for India's rare rhinos

Conservationists say poachers have killed four great one-horned rhinoceros in a reserve in northeast India over the past two weeks. Poachers have become more brazen since the number of guards at the Kazirange National Park have fallen.

Rhinoceros unicornis are only found in their natural habitat in eastern India and neighboring Nepal and the WWF says there are less than 3,000 left - about 1,800 of those at Kazirange.

Their horns are worth big money on the international black market - because they are popular for use traditional Asian medicines (and some believe they serve as an aphrodisiac).

The local government says it is rushing more guards into the area to stop poaching.

Rhino birth captured on Web cam

Sita, a black rhino at Paignton Zoo in Devon, England, gave birth to a calf Monday and the event was watched by thousands of people online.

People all over the world have been following the progress of one-ton mother thanks to the BBC, who installed remote-control cameras, and BT, who supplied a special broadband line. The Web site has become the most popular BBC web cam in the country.

Zoo spokesperson Phil Knowling said: “Sita has become an internet star. I think it has helped to raise awareness for rhino conservation and increased people’s understanding of how zoos work to breed rare species. I’d like to thank everyone who has been following Sita’s progress and who has sent messages of good will and support. It has been a long wait but it has been worth it!”

The girl calf, who has not yet been named, appears to be doing well and took her first steps overnight.  Curator of Mammals Neil Bemment says, “We are over the moon! We have waited for this moment for so many years – and now Sita looks like she is going to be a model mum!”

On the night of the birth, the BBC Devon Web site received more than 600 messages from the public expressing both congratulations and concern about the rhinos' welfare. Read more and see the Web cam videos from the BBC.

Rhino moves to ancestral home

A young rhino is enroute to a new home in Sumatra - the place of his ancestors.

Andalas was the first Sumatran rhino born in captivity in a century when he arrived at the Cincinatti  zoo five years ago. He will be one of only 300 or so Sumatran rhinos living in southeast asia.

"The reason this move is so significant is that it is the first relocation of this species back to Indonesia, the species' homeland," says  Robin Radcliffe of Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Sumatran rhino is considered endangered because they are isolated and fragmented in habitats that have been in a steady decline over the past two decades.