Bid to ensure Sumatran rhino survives

A need to save it: Liew (second left) feeding Iman during the visit to Borneo Rhino Sanctuary in Tabin Wildlife Reserve as Dr Payne (right) looks on.

KOTA KINABALU: Both Malaysia and Indonesia are taking what may be the first step in saving the Sumatran rhino from extinction with the arrival of an expert from Germany next month to help extract eggs from Iman, the sole surviving female animal in Sabah.

Wildlife reproduction expert, Professor Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, has developed a technology that allows for the collection of eggs from the ovaries of rhinoceroses.