Richard Sabin, speaking last year, said, 'Being a large mammal in the wild can be a problem. Habitat loss and illegal hunting were big culprits behind that loss too, and it is a pattern repeated the world over. It leaves his subspecies with little hope of escaping extinction. He died in 2018 in a wildlife conservancy in Kenya. The situation in southeast Asia is mirrored among other species across the globe.Ī rhino called Sudan was the last male northern white rhino. To date, the program has produced five calves. However, it may provide the best hope yet for the future of the species. Some think that the only way to save the species is to capture remaining wild rhinos, and move them into protected areas where they can more easily be monitored - and also find each other for mating.Ī captive breeding programme is still underway, although it has not been a runaway success.
Now the population in Indonesian Borneo is so small that mating partners have difficulty finding each other, and experts believe the biggest threat to the survival of the species is now isolation. She was euthanized in 2017 after suffering from cancer, and also never had calves.Ī handful of Sumatran rhinos still live in small groups in the Indonesian part of Borneo. Despite conservationists’ best efforts she never conceived, and is now unwell too - a ruptured tumour was found in her uterus in December 2017.Ī second female, Puntung, was also part of the breeding programme. He lived alongside Iman, a female rhino who was captured in 2014 for a captive breeding programme. Tam was taken to Tabin Wildlife Reserve, a fenced facility run by the Borneo Rhino Association, in 2008. 'While scientific investigation provides valuable data and can inform wildlife management activities, action needs to be taken on the ground at a local level to prevent poaching, and internationally to halt the illegal trade in endangered species materials.' 'International research groups have been studying the genetic structure and diversity of the critically-endangered Sumatran rhino using historical museum specimens and samples from living animals, to help develop conservation strategies. Richard Sabin adds, 'Degradation and loss of habitat through human activity fragments large mammal populations, isolates individuals and destroys home ranges. A similar situation exists in Kalimantan.
Only 1% of undisturbed lowland forest remains. In Sabah less than 51% of the land area is covered with forest, and 32% of these forests have been logged several times leaving extensive areas in a highly damaged condition. This type of habitat is quickly decreasing on the island. Such a dearth of evidence hampers conservation efforts.Ī team of researchers did manage to study the rhinos that live within Tabin Wildlife Reserve in 2016 and found that the animals chose to spend time in habitat away from human disturbance, that also had good food availability, safe areas and other ecological resources like mud holes for wallowing. On top of all that, there is not enough data available to properly track Sumatran rhino populations, and this problem has persisted for decades. Hunting continued in Sabah until recent times, but at a much lower rate.Īdded to this, females don’t give birth very regularly, and have long gestation periods. By 1956, there were hardly any left in Malaysia. Unrestrained hunting between 19 drastically reduced the rhino population in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Commercial logging began in the 1950s, and kept accelerating, which separated and scattered rhino populations.īy 1930, weapons had become cheaper and easier to find, which triggered a mass slaughter of rhinos by the indigenous people. Forests were slashed to make way for rice, rubber, palm oil and coconuts. Chinese traders shipped rhino horn abroad to be sold as an aphrodisiac and for medicinal use.Īt about the same time, deforestation started on a large scale. Trade began between people living in the island's forests and those living on the coasts.
A 2016 paper examined their decline, and reported that the plummeting of their numbers probably began at the start of the twentieth century, and was triggered by the pacification of indigenous people on the island by governments. It isn't easy to estimate historic numbers of rhinos in Borneo.
The reasons for the declines in Sumatran rhino populations are complex.
White rhinoceros tropical seasonal forest plus#
The island of Borneo is governed by three countries: Malaysia in the north and Indonesia in the south, plus the small sovereign state of Brunei on the north coast.īorneo is home to swathes of ancient rainforest, which a century ago held healthy numbers of a range of mammal species, including rhinos, leopards, elephants, orangutans, proboscis monkeys, sun bears and pangolins.īut years of deforestation, conflict and trade have taken their toll on Borneo's animals.
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