HEWAN LANGKA DI INDONESIA DAN HAMPIR PUNAH - BADAK JAWA

JAVAN RHINO

The Javan Rhino is the rarest of the rhino species with 35-44 animals surviving only in Indonesia.  The last Javan rhino living in Vietnam was poached in 2010.  In Indonesia, Javan rhinos live only in Java’s Ujung Kulon National Park, where the population appears to have stabilized, largely because they are physically guarded from harm by Rhino Protection Units.  The continuation of this protection, combined with establishing a second population elsewhere in Indonesia, provides the best possible hope for the species’ survival.

Current Javan Rhino Numbers and Distribution

There currently are approximately 35-44 Javan rhinos surviving in in one country, Indonesia.

Biology

·         The Javan Rhino is found only in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park in west Java.

·         Javan rhinos appear to be more adaptable feeders than other rhino species: in the tropical rain forest where the species now survives, it is a pure browser, but it possibly was a mixed feeder (both browse and grass) in other parts of its historic range where the species is generally believed to have occupied more lowland areas, especially along watercourses.

·         Longevity is unknown, but Javan rhinos probably live to 30-40 years.

·         Gestation is unknown but is presumed to be approximately 15-16 months, as in other rhinos. Inter-birth intervals are unknown, but mothers probably give birth to one calf approximately every 2-3 years.

·         Females reach sexual maturity between 5 and 7 years of age; males mature at approximately 10 years of age.

·         Javan rhinos are solitary in nature and are rarely seen.

 

Anatomy: 

Smaller than its cousin the Indian rhinoceros, the Javan rhinoceros is about 10 feet long, four to six feet tall, and weighs anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 lbs. It has only one horn, used to scratch away mud in wallows, tug on plants for eating, and carve paths through dense vegetation. Like all rhinos, it has a superior sense of smell and hearing, but very poor vision. The Javan rhino's hairless, mottled gray-brown skin cascades in folds to its shoulder, back and rump, and has a natural mosaic pattern.

Habitat: 

Perhaps the most endangered mammal on Earth, scientists estimate that fewer than 60 Javan rhinos live in the wild today. Thought to survive in only in the Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java, Javan rhinos once ranged widely through India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Javan rhino was declared extinct in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam in October 2011, after the last individual was found shot by poachers. Historically Javan rhinos have shown preference for low-lying areas, inhabiting dense lowland rain forests, tall grass and reed beds abundant with wide floodplains, rivers or wet areas dotted with mud wallows.

Diet: 

An herbivore, the Javan rhino eats a wide variety of plants, particularly their shoots, twigs and fallen fruit. It prefers plants that flourish in sunny areas like forest clearings and shrub land, which it grasps with its prehensile upper lip. The Javan rhino is the most adaptable feeder of all rhinos, and needs salt in its diet, like its relative the Sumatran rhino.

Threats: 

During the Vietnam War, the defoliant Agent Orange destroyed much of the Javan rhino's forest habitat. Agricultural conversion contributed to additional habitat loss, though it is no longer a significant factor as the rhino now occupies only protected territory. These losses, as well poaching for its horn, have nearly wiped out the rhino. The horns have been trafficked in China for more than two millennia, where they are valued in traditional medicine for reported healing powers. According to surveys of the black market for rhino horn, Asian horns command a price up to $30,000 per kilogram.

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