Shwe-U-Daung, 2, some say 3
in small and diminishing numbers
Basel Zoo, 1957. Photo of calf, two weeks old, following its mother in the paddock.
It may be recalled that Mr. R.C. Morris who led an expedition to Malaya on behalf of Mr. A.S. Vernay to procure a specimen for the American Museum of Natural History [New York] in 1935 returned empty-handed without even seeing any footprints except Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, or obtaining any other clues.
Basel Zoo, 1956, male calf. Soon after birth the colour of the skin was almost violet, After some days the skin colour changed to the normal grey-brown of the adult, although the joints of the armour showed up reddish.
sondaicus present
Rajmahal Hills, Bihar
Thanks to the helpful co-operation of Mr. Loke Wan-Tho of Singapore, we reproduce two unique photographs of [the smaller Asiatic onehorned rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sondaicus]. According to The Straits Times of Singapore (March 22, 1957) where the photographs were first published, they were taken by one Mr. P.G. Bazin of the Lima Blas Oil Palm Estate at Slim River in Southern Perak. Ironically enough, the photographer had no idea of what he had in front of his camera! The young picture in the picture was identified by Mr. H.J. Kitchener, the Chief Game Warden of Malaya. In the account given by Mr. Bazin to The Straits Times, it seems that the animal was first seen by the estate labourers, wallowing in a swamp by a field. It did not appear to be frightened but got up from the wallow and slowly walked away regardless of the barking dogs and chivvying by Mr. Bazin's Alsatian. The animal is said to have been followed for two hours along a forest road in a jeep at a distance of 10 yards behind, before it turned off into the jungle and disappeared. Doubt expressed about the identity of the rhinoceros in the pictures in an endnote to Ali & Santapau 1958, p. 555-556, as the prominent anterior nape fold formed by the joining of the shoulder folds on the neck is not visible in the pictures, hence could be Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. E.O.Shebbeare still supported R. sondaicus, but ?would be sorry to plump for either species as the original of the Lim Blas pictures.'
Theodore Hubback, during his term as Chief Game Warden, after prolonged search in Malaya found a single living example which he was so convinced was the last of its species (and mateless) that he permitted it to be shot for some American Museum ?in the interest of science.'
Mr. E.O. Shebbeare who followed Hubback as Game Warden in Malaya for several years before the war did not even see the tracks of this rhinoceros [R. sondaicus].
believed to have become extinct
commercial poaching
Basel Zoo, 1956, male calf. Soon after birth ... with all the folds of the armour-plating as prominent as its mother's.
Basel Zoo, 1956, male calf. Soon after birth ... The margins of the ears were fringed with a growth of hair c. 3 cm long, and the tail tuft was well developed.
Gestation period 530-570 days
Zoo Basel - male calf weight (kg) length (cm) birth 60.5 105 1 month 111 127 2 month 157 146 3 month 215 160 4 month 268 168 5 month 316 176 6 month 349 190 8 month 1000 lbs End
Basel Zoo, 1956, male calf. Soon after birth the colour of the skin was almost violet, After some days the skin colour changed to the normal grey-brown of the adult, although the joints of the armour showed up reddish.
Basel Zoo, 1956, male calf. Soon after birth ... The margins of the ears were fringed with a growth of hair c. 3 cm long, and the tail tuft was well developed.
Basel Zoo, 1956, male calf. Soon after birth ... with all the folds of the armour-plating as prominent as its mother's.
Gestation period 16 months, Whipsnade, 1957
Height at birth 18 inch, Whipsnade, 1957
Length at birth 22 inch, Whipsnade, 1957
Gestation period 19 months, Calcutta, 1925
Gestation period 474 days, Basel 1956
Basel Zoo, 1956. At the beginning of 1956, it was suspected that the female was pregnant though frequent analyses of the urine gave negative results. At the end of April, however, movements of the foetus were discernible each time the female drank cold water. The calf was born on 14 September [1956].
Weight at birth 85-100 lbs, Whipsnade, 1957
Basel Zoo, 1956. The mother immediately licked her baby clean, and then lay down beside it on the bedding straw. The calf made its first effort to stand up 25 minutes after it was born, but succeeded in doing so only half an hour later. It first fed from its mother after two hours. Some time later the mother ate up the entire after-birth.
Length at birth 105 cm, Basel Zoo, 1956
Gestation period 17-18 months (Hodgson), Nepal 1825
Weight at birth 60.5 kg, Male,Basel 1956
