This baby is big news

The biggest news of the weekend, not just in Cincinnati, but arguably on the whole planet, had nothing to do with Iraq, George Bush, politics, murder, mayhem or the NFL draft.

The biggest story was the birth of one of the rarest creatures on the earth -- an 86 pound male Sumatran rhinoceros.

The baby is one of only 300 -- make that 301 -- of his species left alive on Earth. Born to mother Emi and father Ipuh on Sunday night at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the calf was up on its feet and nursing well within a few hours.

To measure the baby rhino's significance, ponder a few numbers. Once more than 50 rhino species roamed the world. Some lived in the tropics, others as far north as the arctic. Today there are only five species left -- Black and White from Africa; Indian, Javan and Sumatran from Asia. Thanks to hunting and habitat destruction, all are near extinction. Black and White number about 7,000 and 14,000 respectively. There are about 2,565 Indian rhinos known to exist and only about 50 to 100 Javans. Emi's and Ipuh's as yet unnamed calf, the third they have produced, is only one of 10 existing Sumatran rhinos in captivity.

The Sumatran is the smallest of the remaining rhino species -- only about four-and-a-half feet high at the shoulder, and weighing 2,200 to 4,400 pounds. With its stringy, reddish hair, it is the last descendent of the Wooly Rhinoceros which first appeared about 20 million years ago. By way of comparison, humans have been around for only about 200,000 years, according to Wikipedia.

Without breeding programs like that at the zoo, these creatures, a species 100 times more ancient than hamanity, don't stand much chance of continuing to exist.