Indonesian Rhino

The Critically Endangered Sumatran rhino is the smallest rhino species and the only Asian rhino with two horns. Also called the lesser two-horned rhino or hairy rhino, it once ranged from north-eastern India through Indochina, Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Borneo (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, andMalaysia). Their numbers are thought to have at least halved between 1985 and 1995. Today, the population is estimated at less than 300 individuals in small pockets of Sumatra, peninsular Malaysia, and Borneo, making it the most threatened rhino in the world. The Borneo population is considered a distinct sub-species, numbering perhaps fewer than 25 animals.

Also known as the Indian rhino, the greater one-horned rhino is enjoying the greatest conservation success. Its original range extended from Pakistan all the way through India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. However in 1975, only 600 remained. By 2002, conservation efforts resulted in the swelling of greater one-horned rhino populations to 2,400 in the Terai Arc Landscape of India and Nepal, and the grasslands of Assam and north Bengal, northeast India. This success aside, however, the greater one-hornedrhino is still listed as Endangered as only two populations number more than 100 individuals.

The Critically Endangered Javan rhino is also known as the lesser one-horned rhino, and is probably the rarest large mammal species in the world. No more than 60 individuals are thought to survive in the wild, and there are none in captivity. The Javan rhino historically roamed from north-eastern India through Myanmar,Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and the islands of Sumatra and Java (Indonesia). Today, just 28-56 are estimated to remain in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, and no more than eight survive in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. Both groups belong to distinct sub-species.

The greatest threat by far to Asian rhino populations is poaching. Although there is no scientific proof of its medical value, rhino horn is highly prized in traditional Asian medicine, where it is ground into a fine powder ormanufactured into tablets as a treatment for a variety of illnesses such as nosebleeds, strokes, convulsions, and fevers. As a result, poachers continue to kill the animals to take the horn, despite increased surveillance and protection.Habitat loss and conflict with humans over living space is a significant problem for all three Asian rhino species. Thanks to conservation efforts, the greater one-horned rhino population has grown from 600 to 2,400 since 1975, with the largest population, 1,700 individuals, in India’s Kaziranga National Park. At the same time, tree growth has reduced the rhinos’ grassland habitat, and concurrent human population growth has led to conflict with rhinos over the remaining available non-forest areas. In this reduced living space, rhinos have destroyed farm crops and caused some human casualties, and humans have retaliated against the animals.

The same problem exists for the other two species, with slightly different parameters. The issue leading to conflict with humans is not that trees are reducing grassland, but that defoliation and land-clearing are reducing the rhinos’ tropical forest habitat. In southern Vietnam, over a quarter of a million people live in the bufferzone around Cat Tien National Park, home to the last three to eight Vietnamese Javan rhinos in the world. The area was badly defoliated by Agent Orange during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to lose natural forest cover at a shocking rate. Similarly, deforestation for farming and plantation crops is severely threatening Sumatran rhino habitats in Indonesia.