Javan Rhino, or small-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is a member of the Rhinocerotidae family and one of the five remaining rhinos. The rhino enters the same genus as the Indian rhinoceros and has a matte-like shell of a steel shirt. The rhino has a length of 3.1 to 3.2 m and a height of 1.4 to 1.7 m. The rhino is smaller than the Indian rhinoceros and is closer in size to the black rhino. The size of the horn is usually less than 20 cm, smaller than that of other rhino species.
This rhinoceros was once one of Asia's most widespread rhinos. Although called "Javan rhinoceros", these animals are not limited to live on the island of Java alone, but throughout the archipelago, throughout Southeast Asia and in India as well as China. This species is now very critical, with only a few populations found in the wild, and none in the zoo. The rhino is probably the rarest mammal on earth. Population 40-50 rhinos live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java, Indonesia. The population of Javan rhinoceros in the outdoors is located in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam with an estimated population of not more than eight in 2007. The decline in Javan rhino population is due to hunting for its horn, which is very valuable in traditional Chinese medicine, at a price of $ 30,000 Kilogram on the black market. The decline in rhinoceros population is also caused by habitat loss, which is mainly caused by war, as the Vietnam war in Southeast Asia also caused a decrease in the Javan rhino population and hindered the recovery. The remaining places are only in two protected areas, but the Javan Rhinos are still at risk of being hunted, sensitive to disease and shrinking genetic diversity causing it to be disturbed in the breed. WWF Indonesia seeks to develop both for the Javan rhino because if there is an attack of disease or natural disaster such as tsunami, Krakatau volcano eruption and earthquake, the population of Javan rhinoceros will be directly extinct. In addition, because of the invasions of langkap (arenga) and competition with bulls for space and resources, the population is increasingly urged. The identified area is safe and relatively close to Halimun National Park in Mt. Salak, West Java, which was once the habitat of the Javan rhinoceros.
Javan rhino can live for 30-45 years in the wild. The rhinos live in lowland rain forest, wet meadows and large flooded land areas. Javan rhinocerms are mostly calm, except for childhood recognition and rearing, although a group can occasionally gather near puddles and where minerals are obtained. Adult rhinos do not have predators as enemies. Javan Rhinos usually avoid humans, but will attack humans if they feel disturbed. Natural researchers and protectors rarely examine the animals directly because of their scarcity and the danger of harassing an endangered species. Researchers used cameras and dirt samples to measure their health and behavior. The Javan Rhino is less studied than other rhino species.
Taxonomy and naming
The first study of Javan rhinoceroses was carried out by natural investigators from outside the area in 1787, when two animals were shot in Java. The Javan rhinoceros bone was sent to Dutch natural investigators Peter Camper, who died in 1789 before publishing his discovery that the Javan rhinoceros is a special species. Another Javan rhino was shot on Sumatra Island by Alfred Duvaucel who sent his specimen to his stepfather, Georges Cuvier, a famous French scientist. Cuvier recognized this beast as a special species in 1822, and in the same year identified by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest as Rhinoceros sondaicus. This species is the last species of rhinoceros identified. Desmarest initially identified the rhinoceros from Java, but later changed and said the specimens came from Java.
The genus name Rhinoceros, in which there is also an Indian rhino, comes from the Greek: rhino means nose, and ceros means horn; Sondaicus is derived from the Sundanese word, an area that includes the islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and the surrounding small islands. The Javan rhinoceros is also called a small one-horned rhinoceros (as a difference with a large one-horned rhino, another Indian rhino name).
There are three subspecies, of which only two subspecies remain, while one subspecies is extinct:
Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus, a subspecies type known as the Indonesian Javan Rhino 'who once lived on the islands of Java and Sumatra. Now the population is only about 40-50 in Ujung Kulon National Park located at the western tip of Java Island. One researcher suggests that the Javan Rhino in Sumatra falls into a different subspecies, R.s. Floweri, but this is not widely accepted.
Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, known as the Javan Rhino of Vietnam or the Vietnamese Rhinoceros, who once lived along Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. Annamiticus is derived from the Annam mountains of Southeast Asia, part of the species' habitat. Now the population is estimated to be fewer than 12, living in lowland forests in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. Genetic analysis suggests that the two remaining subspecies had the same ancestor between 300,000 and 2 million years ago.
Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis, known as the Indian Javan Rhinos, had lived in Bengal to Burma (Myanmar), but was considered extinct in the early decade of the 1900s. Inermis means no horn, because the characteristics of this rhino are small horns in male rhinos, and no horns in females. Specimens of this species are females that do not have horns. The political situation in Burma prevents estimates of this species in the country, but its salvation is considered unbelievable.
Evolution
The first rhino ancestor was separated from other Perissodactyls during the early Eocene. Comparison of mitochondrial DNA gives the impression that the ancestors of modern rhinoceros were separated from the ancestors of Equidae some 50 million years ago. The surviving family, Rhinocerotidae, first appeared in the late Eocene in Eurasia, and ancestral species of modern rhino emerged from Asia at the beginning of the Miocene.
Javan Rhinoceros and Indian rhinoceros are the only members of the genus Rhinoceros that first appeared on the fossil record in Asia about 1.6 million-3.3 million years ago. The molecular estimates suggest that the species had been formed earlier, about 11.7 million years ago. Though belonging to the genus type, the Javan and Indian rhino are believed to be unrelated to other rhino species. Different studies have hypothesized that they may be closely related to an extinct Gaindetherium or Punjabitherium. The Krlad Rhinocerotidae analysis puts Rhinoceros and Punjabitherium extinct on the klad with Dicerorhinus, the Sumatran rhino. Other studies suggest that the Sumatran Rhino is more closely related to two rhino species in Africa. The Sumatran Rhinoceros may be separated from other Asian rhinos 15 million years ago.
Description
Javan Rhino is smaller than its cousin, Indian rhinoceros, and has a large body close to a black rhinoceros. The length of the body of the Javan rhino (including its head) can be more than 3.1-3.2 m and reaches a height of 1.4 to 1.7 m. Adult rhino reportedly weighs between 900 and 2,300 kilograms. Research to collect accurate measurements of the Javan rhinoceros is never done and not a priority. There is no major difference between the sexes, but the female Javanese rhinoceros may be larger in size. Rhino in Vietnam is smaller than in Java based on evidence research through photographs and measurements of their footprints.
Like its cousin in India, Javan rhino has one horn (another species has two horns). Its horn is the smallest horn of all rhinoceros, usually fewer than 20 cm with the longest along 27 cm. Javan rhino rarely uses his horn to fight, but uses it to move the mud in the puddles, to pull the plants to be edible, and pave the way through thick vegetation. The Javanese rhinoceros has a long, high and long lips that help it take food. The serrated teeth are long and sharp; When Javan rhinoceros fight, they use this tooth. Behind the incisors, six long molars are used for chewing rough plants. Like all rhinoceroses, Javan Rhino has a good sense of smell and hearing but has poor eyesight. They are estimated to live for 30 to 45 years.
Her slightly hairy, gray or gray-brown skin wrapped around her shoulders, back and buttocks. The skin has a natural mosaic pattern that causes the rhino to have a shield. The Java rhino's neck wrap is smaller than the Indian rhinoceros, but it still forms a saddle shape on the shoulders. Because of the risk of disturbing endangered species, Javan rhinoceros is studied through a sample of dirt and cameras. They are rarely encountered, observed or measured directly.
Distribution and habitat
The most optimistic estimates estimate that fewer than 100 Javan rhino still exist in the wild. They are considered the most threatened mammals; Although there are still Sumatran rhinos where their lives are not protected like Javan rhinoceros, and some natural protectors assume they have a greater risk. The Javan rhinoceros is still alive in two places, Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java island and Cat Tien National Park located about 150 km north of Ho Chi Minh City.
These animals once spread from Assam and Bengal (their residence will complement each other between the Sumatran and Indian rhinos in that place) eastward to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and southward on the Malay peninsula and Sumatra island, Java and Kalimantan. Javan rhinos live in lowland rain forest, tall grass and alang-alang beds with many rivers, large floodplains or wet areas with many mud puddles. Although in Javan rhino histories favor low areas, subspecies in Vietnam are driven towards higher ground (above 2,000 m), caused by human hunting and hunting.
The Javan rhinoceros has shrunk over the last 3,000 years, beginning around 1000 BC, where life in the north of the rhino extends to Tongkok, but begins to move roughly southward at 0.5 km per year as human settlers rise in the area. This rhino began to become extinct in India in the early decades of the 20th century. The Javan Rhinoceros were hunted down to extinction on peninsular Malaysia in 1932. At the end of the Vietnam war, the Vietnamese rhinoceros was believed extinct along the mainland of Asia. Local hunters and loggers in Cambodia claim to see the Javan Rhino in the Cardamom Mountains, but surveys of the area failed to find evidence. The Javan Rhinoceros population may also exist on the island of Borneo, although the specimen may be a Sumatran rhino, a small population still living there.
Character
Javan rhinoceros are calm animals with the exception when they breed and if a host takes care of their child. Sometimes they will cluster in small groups in places looking for minerals and mud puddles. Wallowing in the mud is a common trait of all rhinos to maintain body temperature and help prevent diseases and parasites. Javan rhino does not dig its own mud puddles and prefers to use other puddles of animals or holes that appear naturally, which will use its horn to enlarge. Where to find minerals is also very important because the nutrients for rhinos are received from salt. The male area is larger than the female with the male area of 12-20 km ² and the female area is estimated to be 3-14 km ². Male area is bigger than female area. It is not known whether there is a territorial battle.
Males mark their territory with piles of dirt and urine splashes. Scratches made by feet on the ground and rolls of young trees are also used for communication. Other rhinoceros species have a distinct habit of defecating on large rhino droppings and then scraping their hind legs in the dirt. Sumatran and Javan Rhino when defecating in piles, not scratching. The adaptation of these properties is known ecologically; In the rain forests of Java and Sumatra, this method may not be useful for spreading odors.
Javan Rhinos have fewer sounds than the Sumatran rhino; Very few Javan rhino sounds are known. The adult Javan Rhino has no natural enemies other than humans. This species, particularly in Vietnam, is a species that fled into the forest when humans approached making it difficult to observe rhinos. When humans get too close to the Javan rhinoceros, the rhino will become aggressive and will attack, stabbing with the teeth of its series in the lower jaw while stabbing up with his head. Its anti-social character may be an adaptation of population pressures; Historical evidence suggests that this species was once more clustered.
Food
Javan Rhinos are herbivorous animals and eat a variety of plant species, especially buds, twigs, young leaves and fallen fruits. Most plants favored by this species grow in sun-exposed areas: in forest clearing, shrubs and other vegetation types without large trees. The rhino drops a young tree to reach its food and grabs it with its upper lip that can hold. The Javan rhinoceros is the most adaptable eater of all rhinoceros species. Rhino is estimated to eat 50 kg of food per day. Like the Sumatran Rhinoceros, this species of rhino needs salt for its food. Public mineral-seeking places are not in Ujung Kulon, but the Javan rhinoceros is seen drinking sea water for the same nutrients it needs.
Reproduction
The sexual nature of the Javan rhinoceros is difficult to learn because the species is rarely observed directly and no zoos have specimens. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 3-4 years while male sexual maturity at age 6 years. The possibility of pregnancy is estimated to appear in the 16-19 month period. The birth interval of this species is 4-5 years and the child makes a stop at about 2 years. Four other rhinoceros species have similar pairs of properties
Conservation
The main factor in the declining population of the Javan Rhinoceros is the hunt for its horn, a problem that also attacks all species of rhino. Rhinoceros horns are a trading commodity in China for 2,000 years which is used as medicine for traditional Chinese medicine. Historically his skin was used to make armor of Chinese soldiers and local tribes in Vietnam believed that his skin could be used as an antidote to poison for snakes. Since the rhino's life spans many areas of poverty, it is difficult for people not to kill these animals that can be sold at high prices. When the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was first put into effect in 1975, the Javan rhino was incorporated into the protection of Appendix 1: all international trade in Javan rhino products is considered illegal. The black market survey of rhinoceros horns has determined that the Asian rhino has a price of $ 30,000 per kilogram, three times the price of African rhinoceros horns.
The loss of habitat due to agriculture also leads to a decrease in the Javan rhino population, although this is no longer a significant factor as the rhino only lives in two protected national parks. The worsening of habitat has prevented the recovery of the rhinoceros population who were victims of hunting for horns. Even with all conservation efforts, the prospects for the safety of the Javan rhinos are bleak. Because their population is enclosed in two small places, they are highly vulnerable to disease and breeding problems. Conservation geneticists estimate that a population of 100 rhinos needs to protect the genetic division of species.
Ujung Kulon
The Ujung Kulon peninsula was destroyed by the eruption of Krakatau volcano in 1883. The Javan rhino colonized the peninsula after the eruption, but humans never returned in large numbers, thus becoming a refuge. In 1931, because the Javan rhinoceros was on the verge of extinction in Sumatra, the Dutch East Indies government declared that rhino was a protected species, and it is still protected today. In 1967 when the rhino census was conducted in Ujung Kulon, only 25 rhinos existed. In 1980, the rhino population increased, and remained in the population of 50 until now. Although the rhino in Ujung Kulon has no natural enemies, they have to compete for sparse space and resources with wild buffalo and Arenga crops that can cause the number of rhinos to remain below the capacity of the peninsula. Ujung Kulon is managed by the Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia. Found at least four Javan rhinoceros infants in 2006.
The main photo of the Javan rhinoceros and its baby, estimated to be about 4-6 months old, was successfully immortalized by the WWF team in November 2007. When photographed, the rhino baby was feeding her mother. The existence of the rhino is known when found traces of rhinoceros measuring 15/16 cm around the watershed Citadahan on October 30, 2007. This is good news for proving the birth of a new rhino in Ujung Kulon.
Cat Tien
Few Rs.s members. The remaining annamiticus lives in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. This rhino has spread in Southeast Asia. After the Vietnam war, the Javan rhinoceros was considered extinct. Tactics used in combat cause damage to regional ecosystems: the use of Napalm, herbicides and defoliants from Agent Orange, aerial bombardment and the use of landmines. The war also flooded the area with weapons. After the war, many poor villagers, who previously used methods such as trap holes, now have deadly weapons that make them efficient rhino hunters. The alleged extinction of the subspecies was challenged when in 1988, a hunter shot an adult female showing that the species had survived the war. In 1989, scientists scrutinized the forests of southern Vietnam to search for evidence of other surviving rhinos. Fresh Rhino footprints belonging to at least 15 rhinoceros are found along the Dong Nai River. Because of the rhinoceros, the area where they lived became part of Cat Tien National Park in 1992. In the early 2000s, their population was feared to have greatly reduced in Vietnam; Some natural protectors estimate that only 3 to 8 rhinos survive, and perhaps none are male. The protector of nature debates whether the Vietnamese rhinoceros is likely to survive; Some argue that rhinoceros from Indonesia must be brought in to rescue the population in Vietnam, and others argue that the population can recover.
In captivity
There is no single Javan rhinoceros in the zoo. In the 1800s, at least four rhinos were exhibited in Adelaide, Kolkata and London. At least 22 Javan rhinoceroses have been documented and kept in captivity, and probably larger in number because these species are sometimes thought to be Indian rhinos. The Javan rhinoceros is never handled properly in captivity: the oldest living rhino reaches only 20 years of age, about half the age that rhinos can reach in the wild. The last Javan rhinoceros in captivity died at the Adelaide Zoo, Australia in 1907, where the species is little known for being shown as an Indian rhino. As a result of the long and expensive programs of the 1980s and 1990s to breed the Sumatran rhino at the zoo failed, efforts to protect the Javan rhinoceros at the zoo were unreliable.
The second habitat preparation effort
Javanese rhinoceros that gather in one main area are particularly vulnerable to extinctions that can be caused by disease, natural disasters such as tsunamis, Krakatau eruptions, earthquakes. In addition, this rhino also lacks space roaming and sources due to the invasion langkap (arenga) and competition with the bull.
WWF's initial study identified suitable, safe and relatively close habitat is Halimun National Park in Mt. Salak, West Java, formerly a Javan rhino habitat. If a second habitat is found, then a healthy, well-qualified rhino, and meets the criteria in Ujung Kulon will be sent to the new territory. This habitat will also ensure the safety of the population.
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