At 17:35 local time on Saturday 23rd November 2019, Malaysia lost its final Sumatran rhino. Iman, a 25-year-old female and the last known individual of her species in the Asian country, was declared dead. Her passing came just six months after the nation's last male Sumatran rhino had died from kidney and liver damage. Once roaming freely throughout Asia, Sumatran rhinos have been driven toward extinction by habitat loss and rampant poaching. Yet perhaps the greatest danger they face is how fragmented their remaining populations have become. Less than 100 Sumatran rhinos are believed to exist today.
Iman drew her name from a river close to the site of her capture. Throughout her life, she battled cancer and was given the highest standard of care right up until her final moments. Uterine tumors had caused massive blood loss on multiple occasions, reportedly bringing her to the brink of death several times. Her passing was classified as a natural death, with shock cited as the cause. Augustine Tuuga, the director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, indicated that the rhino had died earlier than anyone had anticipated.
Officials are hopeful that egg cells can still be harvested from Iman as part of a proposed collaborative effort aimed at protecting and preserving the species. Though a memorandum of understanding has not yet been signed, authorities remain determined to push forward. For Sabah, one path to continued species preservation involves managing female Sumatran rhinos through safe gamete harvesting from living specimens, along with cell culture techniques and reproductive pathology.
The state's wildlife department has announced plans to preserve Iman's body and put it on display at Sabah Museum.