Sumatran Rhion Begum

Sumatran Rhion Begum
22-09-2008

The London Zoo has imported 8 sumatran rhinos between 1872 and 1886. This is the female Begum,she arrived in 1872 aged five and died in 1900. She was until now the oldest sumatran rhino in captivity and she holds the longvitity record for the species.

20-10-2008

WOW never knew they had so many there and them living so long, wonder what they fed them at that time

22-10-2008

I ask me, if they had the same eye problems they have now at the Cincy Zoo.

22-01-2009

Fascinating to think ZSL in the 1800's could keep one for 28 years, whereas in the USA a hundred years later they were all dying from malnutrition!

22-01-2009

Possibly not(?), as for many months per year there is less sunshine/bright light in the UK. It would be interesting to know if any of the other Sumatrans which have been kept in European zoos suffered these eye problems.

You could probably get an answer by finding whether Malayan Tapirs in Europe are prone to this condition or not(as they also do in Australia). If the Tapirs don't, the rhinos probably didn't either, or vice versa..

08-02-2009

Is there something specialised about their diet that they didn't have, causing most of them to die?

08-02-2009

For som reason the ones in the USA zoos couldn't be coaxed into feeding and mostly starved to death- until they discovered that they would eat Ficus leaves. Yet the much earlier ones kept at Regents Park don't seem to have had that problem, nor the ones at Copenhagen or Port Lympne....

09-02-2009

So do they only eat browse?

09-02-2009

No, but it is a big part of their diet.