living fossil
 

Doctor Andriansyah



Dr. Andriansyah was born in 1977 in the city of Tangerang in Banten Province, Sumatra. Andri is a wildlife and zoological veterinarian with extensive experience working with captive primates and rhinoceros. Trained at the Bogor Agricultural University, he began his career working with organgutans at the Orangutan Care Center in Kalimantan. Andri now works alongside Dr. Dedi Candra taking care of the most endangered rhinoceros on earth, the Sumatran or "hairy" rhinoceros. The rare Sumatran rhinos are threatened (RHINO THREATS Poster) by poaching for their horns and escalating habitat fragmentation. He is employed by the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia (Yayasan Badak Indonesia).
 

On his days off Andri volunteers his time at the nearby Elephant Center where he helps his wife with care of the 60 odd elephants that have found their way there from various parts of Sumatra. Andri is also helping to fill the abandoned water wells of a disserted village that has sadly trapped several small elephant calves among other wild creatures. The village was relocated outside of the forests of Way Kambas when the region was declared a National Park in 1972. Andri and his wife became new parents in 2010 with the birth of their first child.


Dr. Andri preparing to collect a blood sample from the ear vein of a Sumatran rhinoceros. Rhinos have veins on the outside and more fragile arteries on the inside of their ears, perhaps as an adaptation to the dense forest they travel through.