12/14/2023 0 Comments Picture of javan rhinocerosA population may have existed on the island of Borneo as well, though these specimens could have been the Sumatran Rhinoceros, a small population of which still lives there. Local hunters and woodcutters in Cambodia claim to have seen Javan Rhinos in the Cardamom Mountains, but surveys of the area have failed to find any evidence of them. By the end of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Rhinoceros was believed extinct across all of mainland Asia. The Javan Rhino was hunted to extinction on the Malaysian peninsula by 1932. It likely became locally extinct in India in the first decade of the 20th century. Starting around 1000 BC, the northern range of the rhinoceros extended into China, but began moving southward at roughly 0.5 km (0.3 mile) per year, as human settlements increased in the region. The range of the Javan Rhinoceros has been shrinking for at least 3,000 years. Although it historically preferred low-lying areas, the subspecies in Vietnam has been pushed onto much higher ground (up to 2,000 m or 6,561 ft), probably because of human encroachment and poaching. The Javan Rhino primarily inhabits dense lowland rain forests, tall grass and reed beds that are plentiful with rivers, large floodplains, or wet areas with many mud wallows. The animal was once widespread from Assam and Bengal (where their range would have overlapped with both the Sumatran and Indian Rhino ) eastward to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and southwards to the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java and possibly Borneo. The Javan Rhinoceros is only known to survive in two places, the Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java and the Cat Tien National Park about 150 km (90 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. They are considered possibly the most endangered of all large mammals although there are more Sumatran Rhinos, their range is not as protected as that of the Javan Rhinos, and some conservationists consider them to be at greater risk. Distribution and habitatĮven the most optimistic estimate suggests there are fewer than 100 Javan Rhinos in the wild. Consequently, the Javan Rhino is the least studied of all rhino species. Researchers rely on camera traps and fecal samples to gauge health and behavior. Scientists and conservationists rarely study the animals directly due to their extreme rarity and the danger of interfering with such an endangered species. The Javan Rhino usually avoids humans, but will attack when it feels threatened. Aside from humans, adults have no predators in their range. The Javan Rhino is mostly solitary, except for courtship and child-rearing, though groups may occasionally congregate near wallows and salt licks. It historically inhabited lowland rain forest, wet grasslands and large floodplains. The Javan Rhino can live approximately 30–45 years in the wild. The remaining range is only within two nationally protected areas, but the rhinos are still at risk from poachers, disease and loss of genetic diversity leading to inbreeding depression. Loss of habitat, especially as the result of wars, such as the Vietnam War, in Southeast Asia, has also contributed to the species's decline and hindered recovery. The decline of the Javan Rhinoceros is attributed to poaching, primarily for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as $30,000 per kilogram on the black market. A population of at least 40–50 live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java in Indonesia and a small population, estimated in 2007 to be no more than eight, survives in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. It is possibly the rarest large mammal on earth. The species is now critically endangered, with only two known populations in the wild, and none in zoos. Once the most widespread of Asian rhinoceroses, the Javan Rhinoceros ranged from the islands of Indonesia, throughout Southeast Asia, and into India and China. Its horn is usually less than 25 cm (10 inches), smaller than those of the other rhino species. It belongs to the same genus as the Indian Rhinoceros, and has similar mosaicked skin which resembles armor, but at 3.1–3.2 m (10–10.5 feet) in length and 1.4–1.7 m (4.6–5.8 ft) in height, it is smaller than the Indian Rhinoceros, and is closer in size to the Black Rhinoceros. The Javan Rhinoceros ( Sunda Rhinoceros to be more precise) or Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros sondaicus) is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses.
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