“Tam the rhino had been receiving intensive care for more than a week for what was suspected to be age-related liver and kidney problems,’’ John Payne, executive director of the Borneo Rhino Alliance, tells DPA.
Tam was estimated to have been in his mid-thirties. He was thought to be no less than 20 years old when he was found wandering in an oil palm plantation in Sabah in 2008 before being rescued by wildlife authorities and placed in a protected reserve.
The average life expectancy of a Sumatran rhino ranges from 35 to 40 years.
“Tam’s demise leaves just one surviving female rhino, Iman, in Malaysia,’’ also according to The Star.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Sumatran rhino is considered a critically endangered species as a result of poaching. The rhinos are poached for their horns, which is used for traditional medicine. There are also instances of illegal encroachment into key rhino habitats.
The issue of the dwindling population also means that the remaining rhinos are so isolated that they may rarely if ever, meet to breed.
(NAN)
