The newborn Sumatran rhinoceros. (Cincinnati Zoo photo) | ZOOM |

        The birth Thursday of a healthy Sumatran rhinoceros at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is being hailed as a historic event that could help save a species.

        The mother is 11-year-old Emi, whose previous five pregnancies ended in miscarriages. She started labor at 9:20 a.m. and gave birth two hours later. The father is Ipuh. They are the only breeding pair of Sumatran rhinos in the United States.

        Not since 1889 in Calcutta, India, has a Sumatran rhino been bred and born in captivity. With fewer than 300 remaining, they are among the world's most endangered animals.

        “I believe that the probability of survival of this species has moved (Thursday) from somewhere below 50-50 to significantly above it,” said Tom Foose, program director of the International Rhino Foundation. He called the birth an “epochal” event, and noted that what has been learned from the Cincinnati birth is being put to use elsewhere.

Emi, the zoo's Sumatran rhinoceros. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        Emi and Ipuh are on loan from the Indonesian government as part of a multinational captive breeding program that began in 1984. But until Thursday, the program had not produced a single Sumatran rhino calf.

        The Cincinnati Zoo began an intensive effort to breed the animals in February 1997, shortly after Terri Roth became director of the zoo's Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife. Her pioneering work with hormone analysis, ultrasound analysis and trial introductions of animals paved the way for the birth.

        “It couldn't have gone better,” Dr. Roth said Thursday evening. “We always knew Emi would be a great mother and she proved it (Thursday).”

        Ted Beattie, immediate past president of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association and CEO of Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, called the birth “a hugely significant event. Probably the most important one in recent history.”

       Jim Knippenberg contributed to this report.
       
       The Cincinnati Zoo Sumatran rhinoceros Emi tends to her newborn at the Cincinnati Zoo.

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