Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhinoceros, Tam, has died, wildlife conservation group WWF-Malaysia confirmed Monday.
Today, we bid farewell to Tam, our last surviving male Sumatran #rhino. Our hearts are filled with sadness as we mourn the loss of a species. With Tam gone, we now only have Iman left, our last female rhino. Let the loss of Tam be the wakeup call. Our #wildlife needs protection pic.twitter.com/3E6LbY5EzN
— WWF-Malaysia (@WWFMy) May 27, 2019
Why it matters: All that remains of the species is 1 female Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia and about 80 in Indonesia, per National Geographic.
What's next? The WWF quoted Christina Liew, deputy chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sabah, as saying officials "intend to resume talks with the Indonesian government on the possibility of breeding the country’s last remaining rhino with advanced reproductive technology, test-tube breeding."
Go deeper: Rhino nearing extinction first had trouble in the Ice Age
