In a statement, Susie Ellis, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, explains that conservationists turned to in-vitro fertilization, which would involve placing embryos in surrogate rhinos, after attempts to encourage natural reproduction proved unsuccessful.

Iman, on the other hand, suffers from an ailment common among female Sumatran rhinos, who can develop cysts and fibroids in their reproductive tracts if too much time passes without mating. As National Geographic’s Jason Bittel reports, researchers believe Puntung was rendered infertile by injuries inflicted by a poacher’s snare, as well as a failed pregnancy prior to her capture. Previously, attempts to breed Tam, found wandering around an oil palm plantation in 2008, with Puntung and Iman (captured in 20, respectively) failed to produce viable pregnancies. His precise cause of death will remain unclear until an autopsy has been performed. Malaysian Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew tells Julia Chan of Malay Mail that Tam’s passing was likely linked with old age and multiple organ failure stemming from kidney and liver damage. Although veterinarians and staff at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, where Tam had resided since his capture in 2008, provided constant palliative care in the days preceding his death, the rhino eventually succumbed to worsening health complications. Thanks to poaching and habitat loss, the species’ population now stands at fewer than 80 members, most of whom are scattered across the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.Īccording to environmental news site Mongabay, Tam’s keepers first noticed changes in the roughly 30- to 35-year-old rhino’s appetite and alertness toward the end of April. His passing, following close on the heels of the June 2017 euthanization of a 20-year-old female, Puntung, represents a significant blow to the two-horned creatures’ chances of long-term survival. Tam, Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino, died Monday, leaving just one sole survivor of the species-a female named Iman-living in the southeast Asian country.

Sumatran rhino facts