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![]() THREATS Hunting of rhinos for traditional medicinal products derived from all parts of the animal's body, especially the horn, has depleted the population of the Sumatran Rhinoceros throughout its range. Although hunting is now illegal, poaching continues, fuelle d by very high demand for use in Oriental medicines in east Asia.5,9 Use of, and trade in, rhino horn is recorded in China since 2,600 BC.26 The present near extinction of Javan and Sumatran Rhinos has been largel y attributed to expansion of trade routes in the T'ang period (600-900 AD)27, followed by an increase in demand for horn products from more prosperous communities in Asia during the 1970s.28 Ho rn is used for the treatment of a variety of ailments ranging from epilepsy, fevers and strokes to AIDS.1 There is a strong belief that rhino horn is irreplaceable in medicine: a recent survey of practitioners showed that 6 0% stocked rhino horn and 27% maintained that its medical properties were unique and essential to their work.9 In 1994, a kilogram of rhino horn was worth approximately US $60,000 in the Far East, the major consumers being C hina, Taiwan and South Korea.9,12 Preliminary results of research at the US National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory indicate that rhino products in Oriental medicines can be identified through distinctive keratin proteins in rhino horn. The process is currently undergoing refinemen t.2 A major threat to African Rhinos is the use of horn for handles of ceremonial daggers in Yemen. At present, the extent to which Asian horn is used for this purpose, if at all, is not known. Disturbance and habitat loss are further threats to the Sumatran Rhinoceros.10 Changes in land-use destroys dispersion corridors and leads to the contraction of rhino habitat. In Sumatra, it is estimated that between 65% and 80% of the forests in the lowlands have been lost. The mountains and hill areas where more rhinos now occur are less seriously affected, but the disruption of forest cover in these areas is already significant.21 While it is desirable to retain large tracts of undisturbed habitat for rhino conservation, it may not be essential to stop well-controlled logging, as the Sumatran Rhino is known to use logged areas, where there is an abundance of regenerating plants.21 However, logging itself creates a more indirect threat through the construction of roads to areas previously inaccessible to poachers. Most populations of Sumatran Rhino are thought to number less than 50 individuals, and this small population size may lead to reduction in genetic diversity through increased inbreeding and random loss of rare genes. Without sufficient genetic variation, the population may not be able to adapt to the changing environmental conditions.22 The death of five Javan Rhinos as a result of a viral infection in Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia, during 1981/82 emphasized the vulnerability of small rhino populations to disease and natural disaster.5 Studies with t he Great Indian Rhino have demonstrated that populations have an unusually high level of genetic variation; and fears about the fitness of small populations of this species appear unfounded.24 This may also be true for other rhinoceros species.
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