Scientist At Work: Emi and the Rhino Scientist by Mary Kay Carson

Terri Roth trudges through the thick, dark Sumatran jungle. She's looking for a rhinoceros that's been seen in the area. It's a rare Sumatran rhino, the world's smallest rhino and one of the most endangered mammals on the planet.Suddenly she spots a young female rhino through the tangle of ferns and trees. The stocky animal is covered in reddish hair, and her snout sports two stubby horns. The rhino walks right up to Terri. The scientist slowly reaches out her hand and touches the rhino's big nose. The wild rhino's curiosity and friendliness remind Terri of Emi, the female Sumatran rhino that lives at the Cincinnati Zoo where Terri works. Terri is working with Emi to help save Sumatran rhinos from extinction—one calf at a time.

One positive new strategy in career education is the "shadowing" program, in which students are interns-for-a-day with a professional in their field of vocational interest. Mary Kay Carson's award-winning Emi and the Rhino Scientist (Scientists in the Field) gives middle readers a chance to shadow Terri Roth through several years in which she works steadily to bring about the first birth in captivity of this endangered rhino. Extremely rare, their numbers shrinking in their southeastern Asian habitat, Sumatrans face possible extinction unless they can be bred in animal preserves. But the Sumatrans, the smallest of the world's rhino species, had not had a successful zoo birth in over 100 years.

An animal lover since early childhood, Terri Roth's early experience with horses and her concern for threatened species led her to become one of the world's foremost experts in the esoteric field of rhino reproduction. Roth had done field work in the forests of Asia and the savannas of Africa, gathering knowledge of rhino behavior, and when a young female named Emi came to Roth's base at the Cincinnati Zoo, hopes were high that the zoo would be able to host the second Sumatran zoo birth ever in the same facility which saw the first calf's birth in the nineteenth century.

But little is known about the factors which produce a viable calf among Sumatran rhinos. And it was definitely not love at first sight when the keepers introduced young Emi to Ipuh, their male rhino. Blood tests failed to show hormonal evidence of an ovulating cycle in Emi, and no one really knew whether her diet of hay and alfalfa pellets provided the nutrients for a successful conception and pregnancy. Terri Roth set out on a long course of trial and error investigations, and in the process was able to document new findings about the process. For example, unlike other species of rhinos, Sumatrans are induced ovulators, only releasing an egg after they mate. Drawing on her experience raising horses, Terri also found that horse progesterone was effective in preventing miscarriages after Emi had conceived.

The Cincinnati Zoo was proud to celebrate the successful birth of a 75-pound male calf, born to Emi and Ipuh, as "godmother" Terri watched by video cam, after a 475-day pregnancy in 2001. Emi nursed and mothered her calf Andalas well, and he thrived, gaining 800 pounds in his first year and eventually making his home at the San Diego Zoo to provide space for further births in Cincinnati. And to everyone's joy, in 2004 Emi produced a daughter, Suci, with ease and aplomb without any hormonal interventions. Although there are no certainties, it seems that Roth's successful work with Emi may assure that there will continue to be Sumatran rhinos for a long time to come.

Carson details the wide-ranging skill sets which a reproductive zoologist such as Roth must have to do this groundbreaking work. Because Emi is a gentle and amazingly cooperative subject, she is easy to love and care for, but field work with wild animals can be both dangerous and tedious, and scientists must sometimes tolerate discomfort and long hours. They must master anatomy and physiology and become experts in the use of artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, and the latest reproduction science. But as Terri Roth strokes Rose, a friendly wild Sumatran rhino in the forest, she knows that the work she has done far away in Cincinnati will help her fellow scientists in Sumatra working on their own captive breeding program to restore the numbers of these rare animals in the wild.

Although in size and shape and number of illustrations, Emi and the Rhino Scientist (Scientists in the Field) resembles a picture book, its intended readers are middle and high school readers with some classroom knowledge of reproduction science as well as curiosity about and affection for animals. Backmatter includes information on all five types of rhinos (black, white, Indian, Javan, and Sumatran), with maps showing their ranges, a glossary, web sites and books for further research, and a detailed index. Beautiful and detailed photos of Dr. Terri Roth at work and of rhinos both in the zoo and in the wild make this book an exciting and inviting experience for readers who are drawn to the vital work of preserving threatened species.

To visit with Emi at home, check her out here on the Rhino Cam at www.aroundcinci.com/icams/rhino//.