Poaching of Sumatran Rhinoceros, though less of a problem than with African Rhinoceros (at least in terms of number of animals killed), is particularly insidious because dealers who stock Sumatran Rhinoceros horn (whose price is unknown but is probably at least US$200 per gram) know that once the species becomes extinct, the price of its horn will increase exponentially. Most remaining habitat is in inaccessible mountainous areas of Indonesia, where the government has shown no inclination to discourage clearing of rhino habitat for the benefit of the timber industry. In the past decade its population has dropped 50%. It is critically endangered due to destruction of its rainforest habitat and illegal poaching. Now only about 200 individuals remain, almost all in Sundaland. They were once quite numerous throughout southeast Asia. The birth interval for this species is 3-4 years. The gestation period is around 400 days and the calve is weaned at 16-18 months and stays with the mother for 2-3 years. Females only come into estrus when a male is nearby. Essential nutrients are obtained from these.įemales become sexually mature at the age of 4-6 years, while males become sexually mature at 7-8 years old. Salt licks are very important to these animals. The rhinos usaully consume up to 50 kg of food a day. They are browsers and have a diet of young saplings, leaves, fruits, twigs and shoots. During the rainy season they go up to higher elevations and down to the valleys in the cooler months.įeeding does occur just before nightfall and in the morning. These rhinos can swim very well and can easily handle steep hills. But meanwhile during the day they wallow in mudbaths to cool down and rest. They eat and are most active at dawn and just after dusk. Marking their territory is done by soil scrapes, bent saplings, and excrement. Salt licks are essential for their home territory. Individuals have home ranges, bulls are around 30 square km whereas females range from 10 to 15 square km. The Sumatran Rhinoceros are solitary creatures. Recently however, the Sumatran Rhinoceros have been pushed into higher altitudes because of humans. It also lives in secondary forest where the upper canopy is broken by smaller shrubs and vines, where there is plenty of food. It likes hilly areas close to water, particularly steep upper valleys with much undergrowth. The Sumatran Rhinoceros live in lowland secondary rainforest, swamps and moss forests. Now, they are mainly found only in Sumatra and Borneo. They also have a prehinsile lip.įormerly, the Sumatran Rhinoceros extended in a continuous distribution as far north as Myanmar and eastern India but poaching has made it extinct in Thailand and Vietnam, whilst it has not been seen in Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar for many years. Hair can range from dense (the most dense hair in young calves) to scarce and the color of these rhinos are reddish brown. The males have much larger horns than the females. Like the African species, it has two horns, the largest is the front (25-79 cm) and the smaller being the second which is usaully less than 10 cm long. Typically a mature Sumatran Rhinoceros stands about 130 cm high at the shoulder, a body length of 240-315 cm and weighs around 700 kg, though the largest individuals have been known to weigh as much as 1,000 kilograms. The Sumatran Rhinoceros is the last surviving species in the same group as the extinct Woolly Rhinoceros. Due to habitat loss and poaching, its numbers have declined and it is one of the world's rarest mammals. The Sumatran Rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis is the smallest extant rhinoceros species, as well as the one with the most fur, which allows it to survive at very high altitudes in Borneo and Sumatra. Source: Brehms Tierleben, Small Edition 1927 Translation (partly): " Sumatran rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis Scl. Original caption: "Rauhohr-Nashorn, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis Scl. Sumatran Rhinoceros ( Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) - Wiki
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