BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For the second time in almost eight months, a rare Sumatran rhino set to make breeding history has miscarried at the Cincinnati Zoo. Emi was 94 days into a 15- to 16-month pregnancy when an ultrasound test showed the embryo had died, zoo officials said Wednesday. Dr. Terri Roth, director of the Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife, said now that the center staff has been able to breed the animals successfully, it must focus on trying to maintain a pregnancy to term for the endangered species.
"This one really baffles me. We thought we had gotten through the tough stage, because (the embryo) did implant and it did look good," Dr. Roth said.
"If somebody had at one point produced at least one, we could talk to them," she said, but the last known pregnancy of a captive Sumatran rhino was 1889. Experience with other types of rhinos indicate that females frequently have fertility problems, she said.
Emi was impregnated by Ipuh, the zoo's only male Sumatran rhino. She also miscarried last November after a 40-day pregnancy when the embryo apparently did not implant in the uterine wall. With the second pregnancy, implantation seemed to be successful as recently as mid-June, Dr. Roth said.
"One thing is certain," she said. "We are not giving up. I'm sure Emi will get pregnant again. This is just very discouraging." Fewer than 400 Sumatran rhinos exist in the wild; 17 are in captivity. Cincinnati is home to the only three rhinos of that kind outside Southeast Asia, their natural habitat. In the wild, the animals are killed by poachers for their horns.
