Asian Rhinoceros Facts

"Get To Know Asia's Rhinos"

Do you know about Asia's three rhino species?

Learn a few rhinoceros facts about these most ancient forest dwellers that cling to survival. Asia has three of the five living rhino species (Black and white rhinoceroses are in Africa.):

• Javan rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) - Found only in western Java in Indonesia, with under ten in Vietnam, for a total of less than 60 total individuals.
• Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) - Found in the jungles of Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia with less than 400 total individuals.
• Greater Asian One-Horned (Indian) Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) - Found only in India and Nepal with 2,400 individuals remaining.

All Asian rhino species are threatened with possible extinction in the near future. Once prevalent all over tropical Asia, these large mammals may disappear due to habitat loss and poaching.

The endangered rhino, a victim of senseless hunting

Rhinoceros Facts: Conservation Issues and Concerns

• According to the IUCN Red List, the Javan and Sumatran rhino species are both critically endangered and face immediate extinction threats.
• Centuries of poaching of rhinoceroses for rhino horns and killing for sport have decimated all wild populations.
• The Javan rhino is one of the most endangered mammals, and the least studied, on the planet.
• Only six viable wild population groups remain for Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Current conservation measures focus on linking critical landscapes with suitable habitats and controlling poaching to reduce deaths.
• Successful relocation of over 60 rhinos in national parks in Nepal has increased the total population and spread animals to more habitats.
• In the early 1900s, the Greater Asian One-horned rhino population was only about 100. A hunting ban in India and further protection measures raised it to over 2,000 a century later.
• A majority (1,480 out of 2,400) of the world's Greater Asian One-horned rhinos reside in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India.
• Traditional medicine practitioners use rhino horn to prescribe for fevers and horns are made into dagger handles in the Middle East.

Comparison of Rhinoceros Sizes

Photo: Wikipedia Prolific GNU

Rhinoceros Facts: Biology and Behavior

• The Sumatran rhino, a forest dweller, is the most primitive and smallest of all rhino species.
• The Greater Asian One-horned rhino prefers grasslands and river habitats and is the largest of all rhino species.
• Unlike the Sumatran rhino, no Javan rhinos have been successfully bred in zoos, thus lessening its chances for survival.
• The term rhinoceros derives from the Greek names for nose (rhino) and horn (ceros).
• Rhino horn, a prized possession for traditional medicine traders and artisans, is made of keratin, the same stuff as fingernails.
• A plant eater, rhinos weigh over one ton, have good hearing and sense of smell, poor eyesight, and live up to 60 years.
• Greater Asian One-horned and Javan rhinos have a single horn, while the Sumatran rhinoceros has two horns.
• Being large mammals with protective skin, rhinos only have two primary predators: tigers and humans.
• Sumatran rhinos are able to live in lowland rainforests, swamps and even mountainous cloud forests.
• Active at night and during dusk and dawn when feeding, the Sumatran rhino rests and cools off in mud baths in daytime.
• Sumatran rhinos make forest trails to access food that are used by generations of rhinos and even other wildlife such as deer and wild pigs.

Javan Rhinoceros, Ujung Kulon, Indonesia Photographic Print
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