M'sia's last living Sumatran rhino's egg successfully harvested

One oocyte (egg cell) was successfully harvested from Malaysia’s last living female Sumatran rhinoceros, Iman, this morning at Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Sabah Wildlife director Augustine Tuuga said the egg cell was then taken to the Reproductive Innovation Centre for Wildlife and Livestock at University Malaysia Sabah's Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture in Sandakan, where an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) attempt would be conducted using Iman's egg and sperm collected from Malaysia's last male Sumatran rhino Tam.

He said the extraction was performed by a team of scientists from Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research, Germany led by Thomas Hildebrandt in collaboration with Borneo Rhino Alliance (Bora), while the preparation and maturation of the oocyte are being handled by Arief Boediono of Bogor Agriculture University, Indonesia. 

“This is great news. It would have been even nicer with more oocytes. But this does allow us to continue with the programme to try to make in vitro embryos of this critically endangered species.

"Prof Arief will be using thawed frozen sperm from Tam, which died in May this year of renal failure, for the IVF attempt," he said in a statement tonight.

Tuuga also noted that Malaysia remained ready to collaborate with Indonesia for further attempts to boost the number of Sumatran rhinos.

UMS Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture dean Abdul Hamid Ahmad added that the Reproductive Innovation Centre was now open for use and was pleased that the IVF attempt was conducted at the centre.

Bora executive director Dr Junaidi Payne said the application of advanced reproductive technology (ART) in the conservation of Sumatran rhinos could ensure living genomes from the species are kept alive long after their deaths.

"There are simply not enough wild Sumatran rhinos left alive to save the species. 

"This attempt in Sabah is great, but yet another wasted opportunity (of much earlier attempts) if Indonesia had agreed to provide fresh semen from one of their three young males, the chance of success this time would have been greater," he said.

- Bernama