Javan Rhinos Confirmed in Vietnam!
Dung-sniffing dogs have confirmed that Javan rhinos are indeed still surviving in Vietnam.
The WWF survey of Vietnam’s Javan rhino population is off to a promising start: Two dung piles and recent footprints!
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WWF biologists Sarah Brook and Simon Mahood have announced via the survey project’s blog - Rhinomania - that Javan rhino dung and footprints have been found in Vietnam.
In five days of searching we found two dung piles, both rather old.
At the wallows, rhino footprints were often clearly visible. Ageing the footprints is fraught with difficulty, but the lack of fallen leaves in these prints indicate that they were made very recently.
Those footprints led out of a wallow where a rhino had been moving around … Again, there is no debris in the areas flattened by the rhino, this and the cloudiness of the water where the rhino has been moving around indicated to us that the rhino had been here recently, perhaps as recently as the night before.
Just a handful of Javan rhinos left in Vietnam
It is estimated that there are no more than five individuals of this rare Javan rhino subspecies (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) still surviving in Vietnam.
The purpose of the Javan rhino population study is to gather urgently needed genetic data in order to develop a local conservation management strategy for these critically endangered mammals. According to WWF, data about these shy and elusive creatures will be compiled using Javan rhino dung analysis.
The project is being carried out by the WWF, Forest Protection Department, Cat Tien National Park, and international rhino experts.
Learn more about the Javan rhino population study at WWF Rhinomania blog.
Image source: flickr.com/argenberg/ / CC BY 2.0
Lets do an extensive search for more asian mainland populations of Javan Rhinos in areas where they are rumored to exist like in Cambodia and possibly Laos,Thailand, Southern China.If more are located, exchange some individuals between the populations to freshen the genepool and breed them to boost the populations and restock them into areas that once had them.A great way to find any other possible populations is to do an INFARED SURVEY using infared cameras mounted on airplanes to fly over the dense jungles to find them and possibly other rare and or thought to be extinct species(like the kouprey)etc.
Dustin -
Yes, it would be absolutely wonderful if additional Javan rhino populations could be located somehow …
- Rhishja
How to establish new “INDONESIAN JAVAN RHINO” populations-Do what has been done in Africa!To my understanding,this has been done in some cases and very successfully.Take juveniles that are eating solid food for relocation by livetrapping the calf and its mother.Do DNA tests,measure and weigh both,then take the calf into captivity and release the mother back where she was captured.For mothers with a calf that cannot yet eat solid food,keep it and it’s mother in captivity until the calf can eat solid food,then release the mother back into the wild.When the calves were taken from the mothers was done with African rhinos,the females were stimulated to mate again by not having a calf therefore speeding up the growth of the rhino population.To my understanding,rhinos usually only mate after the calf has left its mother at about 2 years old-so lets say the mother of a removed calf at approximately 6 months will then mate again.Rhino calves in Java can also fall prey to large pythons,crocodiles,and leopards.Keeping them in captivity will eliminate that mortality risk-that may be part of what is hindering the growth of the population.Establish not one but 2 new “Indonesian Javan Rhino” populations with captured and relocated calves-one population possibly a captive one in a semi wild environment in Singapore which would practically eliminate the possibility of poaching and a second population being captive in a fenced in area of a well protected reserve in Indonesia with only wildcaught calves in captivity.Keep all calves in captivity-(the fenced in area as has been done with great success in Africa) until they mature and breed.Then as they breed,keep the calves in captivity and only release the adults.
Hi Dustin -
I wish more people had your enthusiasm and concern. A major problem facing rhino (and other species) conservation is … lack of funding.
Rhishja