Mating in Indonesia

His name is Harapan, he is eight-years-old and is being touted as a key player in the race to preserve the Sumatran rhino. If you haven't guessed already, this youngster is himself a member of the critically endangered species.

Currently at home in an enclosure at #link:http://cincinnatizoo.org/:Cincinnati Zoo#, Harapan is being prepared for his journey to his ancestral home of Indonesia, where almost all the 100 remaining Sumatran rhinos live.

Both the development of their native forest habitat and poaching for their prized horn have seen their numbers plummet by some 90 percent since the mid-1980s.

Harapan is one of three so-called "hairy rhinos" born under the zoo's famed breeding program, but is now the only one left there. The eldest, Andalas, has been in Indonesia since 2007, while their sister, Suci, died in captivity in Cininnati last year.

Bambang Dahono Adji, director of biodiversity conservation at Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry, says the cause for death could have been too much iron in her diet, and fears Harapan might succumb to the same ill-fate.

"The conclusion of experts is that Harapan has to be saved," he told reporters. "We don't want to see any more premature deaths of rhinos."

As such, the young bull's move to the #link:https://www.savetherhino.org/asia_programmes/sumatran_rhino_sanctuary_indonesia:Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary# in Indonesia's Way Kambas National Park, serves a dual purpose. At the breeding facility, he will join his 14 year-old brother. Andalas lives there with three females and his one male offspring, who was born in 2012.

But before two-horned Harapan can embark on the journey to the other side of the world, he has to be conditioned to spend the long flight time inside a crate.