In chapter eleven, Kolbert is at the Cincinnati Zoo where she met Suci, a sumatran rhino. She is part of one of the last five species of rhinos that living and the oldest. Sumatran rhinos once lived abundantly in the Himalayas. This was put to a halt as the forests of southeast Asia were cut down which created a decrease in their habitat. Over the years, the population has continued to diminish. Conservationists from singapore tried to prevent this by capturing forty rhinos and seven were sent to the United States. These efforts weren’t very successful in the beginning. The rhinos that were sent to America were fed hay which is not a good diet for them. This caused four out of the seven to die. Two rhinos were sent to the Cincinnati Zoo and there were many attempts to get a rhino named Emi, pregnant but Suci was born eventually. In this chapter, the author was questioning why oversized animals were going extinct. The book states, “Much more recently, toward the end of the last ice age, jumbo sized animals could be found in pretty much all parts of the world.” To answer her question, she went to Big Bone Lick because during the eighteenth and nineteenth century, bones from different species of animals were sent there. Some theories are that climate change led to the extinction of oversized animals and another was that throughout history, animals are hunted for multiple reasons. This chapter connects to the theme, Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems. This was evident with the efforts of the singaporean conservationists and the many attempts to impregnate Emi. If humans change their habits, this would protect all different species around us.
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