For this round of region reports, I read an article about Malaysia’s last male Sumatran Rhino dying. There is now just one female Sumatran Rhino in the country and experts believe there to be less than 80 of this species left in the world. The species is the smallest of the rhinos and it has been declared as “Functionally extinct.” With the population of the animal declining by 70% over the last 20 years, it is considered one of the most endangered large mammals in the world. This male rhino was found in the wild and brought into captivity hoping there was a chance for it to breed with one of the two female rhinos in captivity. However, it was discovered that the female rhinos were both infertile and nearly a decade later, only one of those three rhinos remains alive.
The downward trend of animal populations throughout the world is not something enough people are talking about in my opinion. With rhinoceroses specifically, many species of the animal are considered endangered or virtually extinct and the fact that this story wasn’t brought to my attention until finding the article goes to show the lack of care form people around the world of a very serious serious issue.