To help beleaguered Javan rhinos, study calls for tree felling, captive breeding

To help beleaguered Javan rhinos, study calls for tree felling, captive breeding

Once roaming across Southeast Asia, the Javan rhino today persists on a single peninsula off the western-most coast of Java in Indonesian. There, in Ujung Kulon National Park, around 70 Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) survive. A tsunami, a disease or a determined group of poachers could wipe them out for good. To complicate matters further, […]

Read More

Indonesia teams up with Germany on Sumatran rhino breeding efforts

Indonesia teams up with Germany on Sumatran rhino breeding efforts

JAKARTA — Indonesian and German scientists are collaborating on assisted reproductive technologies for critically endangered species, with a primary focus on pulling the Sumatran rhino from the brink of extinction. Indonesia’s Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) signed the collaboration agreement in May. It calls for […]

Read More

To count Sumatran rhinos in the wild, look for their poop, study says

To count Sumatran rhinos in the wild, look for their poop, study says

JAKARTA — How do you tally the population of one of the rarest and most elusive animals on Earth? Follow the poop, of course. That’s the finding from a study that shows that Sumatran rhinoceros droppings can reliably predict the species’ remaining population and help inform conservation planning. The estimated global population of the Sumatran […]

Read More

Development of third Sumatran rhino sanctuary advances to save species

Development of third Sumatran rhino sanctuary advances to save species

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — The development of a highly anticipated captive-breeding facility for Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia’s Aceh province is advancing as part of conservation efforts to save the nearly extinct species. The planned facility, the third in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) network, is one of Indonesia’s top strategies to help prevent the global […]

Read More

Sumatran rhinos show low inbreeding — but when it happens, collapse is quick

Sumatran rhinos show low inbreeding — but when it happens, collapse is quick

The outlook is bleak for Sumatran rhinos. Decades of poaching and habitat loss have precipitated a steep population decline. Once found across Southeast Asia, from the Himalayan foothills to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the critically endangered species, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, is now only found in Indonesia. Conservationists estimate that fewer than 100 individuals survive […]

Read More