The Javan rhinoceros is critically endangered, with only one known population in the wild, and no individuals in captivity. Only adult males have horns; females lack them altogether. The decline of the species is attributed to poaching, primarily for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine. Loss of habitat, especially as the result of wars, such as the Vietnam War, in Southeast Asia, has also contributed to the species’ decline.
About Javan rhinoceros in brief
The Javan rhinoceros is critically endangered, with only one known population in the wild, and no individuals in captivity. It is possibly the rarest large mammal on Earth, with a population of as few as 58 to 61 in Ujung Kulon National Park at the western tip of Java in Indonesia. Only adult males have horns; females lack them altogether. The decline of the species is attributed to poaching, primarily for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as US$30,000 per kg on the black market. Loss of habitat, especially as the result of wars, such as the Vietnam War, in Southeast Asia, has also contributed to the species’ decline and hindered recovery. The remaining range is within one nationally protected area, but the rhinos are still at risk from poachers, disease, and loss of genetic diversity leading to inbreeding depression. The species is mostly solitary, except for courtship and offspring-rearing, though groups may occasionally congregate near wallows and salt licks. Aside from humans, adults have no predators in their range. The Javan Rhino can live around 30–45 years in theWild. It historically inhabited lowland rain forest, wet grasslands, and large floodplains. In April 2012, the National Parks Authority released video showing 35 individual JavanRhinos, including motheroffspring pairs and courting adults. There are only 58 to 68 individuals left in thewild, and none in captivity, after the death of a male rhinOCeros named Samson.
Samson died in April 2018 at 30 years of age, far younger than the species’ usual lifespan of 50 to 60 years, so DNA testing is being conducted to explore the cause of death, including the possibility of inbreeding degeneration. The genus name Rhinocero is a combination of the ancient Greek words meaning ‘nose’ and ‘horn of an animal’ The name sondaicus is derived from sunda, the biogeographical region that comprises the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and surrounding smaller islands. As of 2005, three Javan Rhino species are considered valid taxa: Asaucel, Javan rhino, and several zoological specimens of hornless rhino species were described: In the 19th century, several zoologists described several hornless rhino specimens of the rhino of the 20th century. The ancestors of modern rhinos split from the ancestors of the Equinocerotidae around 50 million years ago. The only members of the genus are the Indian and Javan Rhino species. The rhinos dispersed from the beginning of the Mioceneocene in Asia in the early Miocene, and the ancestors appeared in the Late Eocene in Eurasia in Miocene in the Early Eocene, the first millennium and the first Eocene. The Indian Rhinos are held to have diverged from other rhinos in the genus Eodactyls perissyls in the Mitochondrial DNA.
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This page is based on the article Javan rhinoceros published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
