Sumatran
Rhinoceros-Genus:Dicerorhinus,Species:sumatrensis
Sumatran Rhino Seen in Borneo
Jungles
Source
- Newsday.com
September 8,
2006
KUALA LUMPUR,
Malaysia - Wildlife rangers have made the
first-ever sighting of a Sumatran rhino deep in the jungles of
Borneo, taking video and photos of a single male after a
decade-long search, conservationists said Friday. SOS Rhino, a
Chicago-based wildlife foundation, hailed the recent sighting
in Malaysia's Sabah state as a "major discovery" that
suggested a growing population of the Sumatran rhino was
present in the wild.
The foundation said
rangers from its expedition followed tracks that led them to
the male rhino, but didn't say exactly when it took place. "We
have been tracking these animals here in Sabah for almost 10
years now and although we have seen tracks and signs of the
rhino, this is the actual first sighting of a rhino in the
wild," it said in a statement. "We are excited about the
photos and video clip as it also helps us determine the sex of
the animal and its health condition in its natural habitat,
something that was dependent on guess work
before."
The Sumatran rhino is
the smallest and most endangered among five species of rhinos
left in the world, and the only rhino species found in
Malaysia. They have rapidly vanished in recent decades as
their rain forest habitat has been lost to logging,
plantations and other development and poachers hunted them for
horns used in aphrodisiacs and traditional
medicines.
Sabah is the last
preserve of the Borneo Sumatran rhino, a subspecies of the
Sumatran rhino, a bristly, snub-nosed, smaller version of the
African variety. The subspecies has already become extinct in
other parts of Borneo because of poaching. Borneo island is
divided between Malaysia's Sabah and Sarawak states,
Indonesia's Kalimantan province and the oil-rich sultanate of
Borneo.
Fewer than 300 rhinos
of the second subspecies, the western Sumatran rhino, are
believed to be living on Indonesia's Sumatra island and
mainland Malaysia. Hopes for the Borneo subspecies were
boosted after Malaysian government wildlife officials and
World Wildlife Fund experts found evidence of at least 13 of
them in May last year.
Rhino protection units
have since launched patrols to deter poaching.
SOS Rhino: http://www.sosrhino.org
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