JAKARTA (dpa): A rare Sumatran rhinoceros calf has been born in a national park in Indonesia, the second calf of the endangered species to have been born in the park this year.
The male calf is the result of a pairing between a male rhino named Harapan and a local female rhino named Delilah.
It is the fifth calf to have been born in Sumatra's Way Kambas rhino conservation area since the birth of Andatu in 2012, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said in a statement on Sunday.
"We are grateful for the birth of the fifth calf in Way Kambas. It reaffirms the Indonesian government's commitment to rhino conservation, especially the Sumatran rhino," Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya said.
The yet-to-be-named calf is the firstborn of seven-year-old Delilah, the second rhino born in the park. The male rhino, Harapan, is a former resident of Cincinnati Zoo in the United States and was born there in 2007. Harapan became a resident in the park in 2015, after he was repatriated to Indonesia.
Harapan was the last Sumatran rhino outside Indonesia that was repatriated, and there are no more Sumatran rhinos residing elsewhere except in Indonesia, the ministry said.
Satyawan Pudyatmoko, the ministry's Director General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation, said Delilah is estimated to have given birth to the calf at 4am on Saturday (2000 GMT on Friday) on the 460th day of her pregnancy and 10 days earlier than her estimated due date.
"The Way Kambas park rangers found Delilah already with her calf in the forest at 08.19," Pudyatmoko said.
He added that the newborn calf, weighing about 25 kilograms, and his mother are in good condition and are under constant monitoring.
Photos shared by the forestry ministry showed the black-haired calf standing next to his mother crouching in the forest with two rangers and nursing his mother.
The Sumatran rhino is the smallest species of rhino and a protected animal in Indonesia. It is listed as critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, or the IUCN Red List, as there are fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos left, due to poaching and its natural habitat shrinking amid massive deforestation. - dpa
