header: Javan Rhinoceros
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line Rhinoceros sondaicus (Desmarest, 1822)

POPULATION

The total population of Javan Rhinos has declined dramatically over the last 150 years, resulting in a low during the 1960s of an estimated 20 to 30 individuals within Ujung Kulon National Park (table 1). Strict protection by the Indonesian Authorities has allowed the recovery of this population to an estimated 50 individuals (table 2). Ujung Kulon has an estimated carrying capacity of 80 rhinoceros, based on home size range and habitat condition.

Although many reports had been received suggesting the continued existence of Javan Rhinos in Indochina, their presence was only confirmed in 1988 when a Stieng hunter killed a Javan Rhino and the skeleton was taken to Hanoi.13 Population surveys have indicated that fewer than 20 animals occur within an area of 35,000 ha of the Lam Dong Province, southern Vietnam (table 2).14,18

Table 1. Javan Rhinoceros total population estimates.


A table of data


Table 2. Population estimates for the Javan Rhinoceros


A table of data


Source: Foose and van Strien, 1995.18

Major population: Ujung Kulon National Park, Sumatra (Indonesia) possibly contains the only global viable population of the Javan Rhinoceros. Apart from the rhinos of Ujung Kulon, and the small rhino population of Lam Dong Province (Vietnam), no further populations of the Javan Rhino are conclusively known to exist.


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