When Harry met Rosa, a rhino love story

An 1,800-pound rhinoceros named Harry flew to Indonesia this weekend. Really.

Veterinarians with the Cincinnati Zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Wildlife escorted a Sumatran Rhino to the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia. It's hoped the male rhino will mate there and help bring more rhinos into the world.

The team sent along the photo you see here and tweeted, “All is well in Sumatra! Harry came out of crate looking perky – started snacking & walking around.”

Dr. Monica Stoops, with the the Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Wildlife at the Cincinnati Zoo, didn't get to go with the rhino on the 10,000-mile journey to Indonesia, but she knows Harry quite well.

“We’ve heard from our staff that’s over there at Way Kambas National Park, at the sanctuary, and they say he is doing fantastic. He arrived after a 30-hour plane ride and then he had another day to get over to the sanctuary and he did that by truck as well as by ferry.”

The sanctuary is a good place for this healthy, hearty Sumatran Rhino, says Stoops. “In terms of the rhino dating game, he’s got some good chances over there in Sumatra. They have three females that are located at the reserve and there's one female that they’re hoping that he’s got an eye for and her name is Rosa … we think they’re going to be a good pair. They’re both kind of spunky and feisty.” In addition, the International Rhino Foundation maintains anti-poaching "rhino protection units" in this sanctuary.

Sumatran rhinos are critically endangered. There are estimated to be fewer than 100 surviving worldwide. That includes a small captive population in Borneo, and the semi-captive population at theSumatran Rhino sanctuary. The rest are free-ranging, located in different park systems throughout Indonesia.

Three Sumatran rhino calves have been born in captivity at the zoo in Cincinnati since 2001. “We’re not known as the sexiest zoo for nothing,” says Stoops. The first born, Andalas, (Harry's older brother) was sent to live and breed in Sumatra seven years ago. Things have gone well with Andala siring his first calf (Andatu) in 2012. There's another on the way.

Stoops says Harry — or Harapan which means ‘hope’ in Indonesian — is probably having a good mud wallow right about now and may be “stretching his legs after that long flight, getting used to ranging out into the local forest, and getting used to the local browse there, and then of course meeting with Rosa when it comes time. Staff there are fully trained in using ultrasound to be able to know when those females are ready to breed. So they will pick the right time and bring those two rhinos together and hopefully there will be some ‘rhino magic’ going on.”

The Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, is a global leader in wildlife conservation.