The Javan rhino is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, with no more than 50 left in the

wild and none in captivity.

Its small population size and likely isolation to one protected area in Indonesia make it extremely vulnerable to any threat.

EXTINCTION OF THE JAVAN RHINO IN VIETNAM

In October 2011 it was confirmed that the Javan rhino in Vietnam is extinct. A dead Javan rhino was found in April 2010 with a single bullet in its leg and its horn removed. A collection of 22 seperate dung samples gathered in a survey of Cat Tien National Park in 2009-2010 were analysed and all came from this single rhino. (Download the full report of the study here). Habitat loss played a key role in sealing the fate of the rhino in Vietnam, and without adequate law enforcement and effective management of protected areas other species such as the tiger and the Asian elephant could also disappear from the wild in Vietnam.
The Javan Rhino is the rarest of the rhino species with 27-44 animals surviving only in Indonesia. The last Javan rhino is believed to have been poached in Vietnam in 2010. In Indonesia, Javan rhinos live only in Javas Ujung Kulon National Park, where the population appears to have stabilized, largely because they are physically guarded from harm by Rhino Protection Units. The continuation of this protection, combined with establishing a second population elsewhere in Indonesia, provides the best possible hope for the species survival.

Current Javan Rhino Numbers and Distribution

There currently are approximately 27-44 Javan rhinos surviving in in one country, Indonesia.

Biology
The Javan Rhino is found only in Indonesias Ujung Kulon National Park in west Java. Javan rhinos appear to be more adaptable feeders than other rhino species: in the tropical rain forest where the species now survives, it is a pure browser, but it possibly was a mixed feeder (both browse and grass) in other parts of its historic range where the species is generally believed to have occupied more lowland areas, especially along watercourses. Longevity is unknown, but Javan rhinos probably live to 30-40 years. Gestation is unknown but is presumed to be approximately 15-16 months, as in other rhinos. Interbirth intervals are unknown, but mothers probably give birth to one calf every 1-3 years. Females reach sexual maturity between 5 and 7 years of age; males mature at approximately 10 years of age. Javan rhinos are solitary in nature and are rarely seen.

The Javan rhinoceros (Sunda rhinoceros to be more precise) or lesser one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is a member of the familyRhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same genus as the Indian rhinoceros, and has similar mosaicked skin which resembles armor, but at 3.13.2 m (1010.5 feet) in length and 1.41.7 m (4.6 5.8 ft) in height, it is smaller. (In fact, it is closer in size to the black rhinoceros of the genus Diceros.) Its horn is usually less than 25 cm (10 inches), smaller than those of the other rhino species. Once the most widespread of Asian rhinoceroses, the Javan rhinoceros ranged from the islands of Java and Sumatra, throughout Southeast Asia, and into India and China. The species is critically endangered, with only one known population in the wild, and no individuals in captivity. It is possibly [5]:21 the rarest large mammal on earth, with a population of as few as 40 in Ujung Kulon National Park on Java in Indonesia. A second population in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam was confirmed [6] as extinct in 2011. The decline of the Javan rhinoceros is attributed to poaching, primarily for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as $30,000 per [5]:31 kilogram on the black market. Loss of habitat, especially as the result of wars, such as the Vietnam War, in Southeast Asia, has also contributed to the species's decline and hindered [7] recovery. The remaining range is within one nationally protected area, but the rhinos are still at risk from poachers, disease and loss of genetic diversity leading to inbreeding depression. The Javan rhino can live approximately 3045 years in the wild. It historically inhabited lowland rain forest, wet grasslands and large floodplains. The Javan rhino is mostly solitary, except for courtship and child-rearing, though groups may occasionally congregate near wallows and salt licks. Aside from humans, adults have no predators in their range. The Javan rhino usually avoids humans, but will attack when it feels threatened. Scientists and conservationists rarely study the animals directly due to their extreme rarity and the danger of interfering with such an endangered species. Researchers rely on camera traps and fecal samples to gauge health and behavior. Consequently, the Javan rhino is the least studied of all rhino species. Two adult rhinos with their calves were filmed in a motiontriggered video released on February 28, 2011 by WWF and Indonesia's National Park Authority, [8] which proved that it is still breeding in the wild.
Contents
[hide]

1 Taxonomy and naming

1.1 Evolution

2 Description 3 Distribution and habitat 4 Behavior 5 Diet 6 Conservation

o o o

6.1 Ujung Kulon 6.2 Cat Tien 6.3 In captivity

7 References 8 External links

[edit]Taxonomy

and naming

Type specimen of the extinctR. s. inermis

The first studies of the Javan rhinoceros by naturalists from outside of its region took place in 1787 when two animals were shot in Java. The skulls were sent to the renowned Dutch naturalist Petrus Camper, who died in 1789 before he was able to publish his discovery that the rhinos of Java were a distinct species. Another Javan rhinoceros was shot on the island of Sumatra by Alfred Duvaucel who sent the specimen to his stepfather Georges Cuvier, a famous French scientist. Cuvier recognized the animal as a distinct species in 1822, and in the same year it was identified byAnselme Gatan Desmarest as Rhinoceros sondaicus. It was the last species of rhinoceros to be [9] identified. Desmarest initially identified the rhino as being from Sumatra, but later amended this to [3] say his specimen was from Java. The genus name Rhinoceros, which also includes the Indian rhinoceros, is derived from Greek: rhino meaning nose, and ceros meaning horn; sondaicus is derived from sunda, the biogeographical region that comprises islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and surrounding smaller islands. The Javan rhino is also known as the lesser one-horned rhinoceros (in contrast with the greater one-horned rhinoceros, another name for the Indian rhino). There are three distinct subspecies, of which only one is still extant: Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus, the type subspecies, known as the Indonesian Javan rhinoceros, once lived on Java and Sumatra. The population is now confined to as few as 40 animals in the wild, Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of the island of Java. One researcher has suggested that the Javan rhino on Sumatra belonged to a distinct [2][10] subspecies, R.s. floweri, but this is not widely accepted. Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, known as the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros or Vietnamese rhinoceros, once lived across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and into Thailand and Malaysia. Annamiticus is derived from the Annamite Mountain Range in Southeast Asia, part of this subspecies's range. In 2006, a single population, estimated at fewer

than 12 remaining rhinos, lived in an area of lowland forest in the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. Genetic analysis suggested that the this subspecies and the Indonesian Javan [10][2] rhinoceros last shared a common ancestor between 300,000 and 2 million years ago. The [11] last individual of this population was shot by a poacher in 2010. Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis, known as the Indian Javan rhinoceros, once ranged from Bengal to Burma, but is presumed to have gone extinct before [12] 1925. Inermis means unarmed, as the most distinctive characteristic of this sub-species is the small horns in males, and evident lack of horns in females. The original specimen of this species was a hornless female. The political situation in Burma has prevented assessment of the species [13][14][15] in that country, but its survival is considered unlikely.

[edit]Evolution Main article: Rhinoceros#Evolution

The Indian rhinoceros pictured here is closely related to the Javan rhinoceros; they are the two members of the type genusRhinoceros.

Ancestral rhinoceroses first diverged from other Perissodactyls in the Early Eocene. Mitochondrial DNA comparison suggests that the ancestors of modern rhinos split from the ancestors [16] of Equidae around 50 million years ago. The extant family, the Rhinocerotidae, first appeared in the Late Eocene in Eurasia, and the ancestors of the extant rhino species dispersed from Asia beginning [17] in the Miocene. The Indian and Javan rhinoceros, the only members of the genus Rhinoceros, first appear in the fossil record in Asia around 1.6 million3.3 million years ago. Molecular estimates, however, suggest the [16][18] species may have diverged much earlier, around 11.7 million years ago. Although belonging to the type genus, the Indian and Javan rhinoceros are not believed to be closely related to other rhino species. Different studies have hypothesized that they may be closely related to the extinct Gaindetherium or Punjabitherium. A detailed cladistic analysis of the Rhinocerotidae placed Rhinoceros and the extinctPunjabitherium in a clade with Dicerorhinus, the Sumatran Rhino. Other studies have suggested the Sumatran Rhinoceros is more closely related to the two African [19] species. The Sumatran Rhino may have diverged from the other Asian rhinos as far back as 15 [17] million years ago. [edit]Description

Head of a specimen shot in 1934

The Javan rhino is smaller than its cousin, the Indian rhinoceros, and is close in size to the black rhinoceros. The body length of the Javan rhino (including its head) can be up to 2 to 4 m (6.6 to 13 ft), and it can reach a height of 1.41.7 m (4.65.8 ft). Adults are variously reported to weigh between 900 and 2,300 kg (2,000 and 5,100 lb), although because they are endangered, a study to collect [20] accurate measurements of the animals has never been conducted and is not a priority. There is not a substantial size difference between genders, but females may be slightly bigger. The rhinos in Vietnam appeared to be significantly smaller than those in Java, based on studies of photographic [21] evidence and measurements of their footprints. Like its Indian cousin, the Javan rhinoceros has a single horn (the other extant species have two horns). Its horn is the smallest of all extant rhinos, usually less than 20 cm (7.9 inches) with the longest recorded only 27 cm (10 in). The Javan rhinoceros does not appear to often use its horn for fighting, but instead uses it to scrape mud away in wallows, to pull down plants for eating, and to open paths through thick vegetation. Similar to the other browsing species of rhino (the black, Sumatran and Indian rhinoceroses), the Javan rhino has long, pointed, upper lips which help in grabbing food. Its lower incisors are long and sharp; when the Javan rhino fights it uses these teeth. Behind the incisors, two rows of six low-crowned molars are used for chewing coarse plants. Like all rhinos, the Javan rhino smells and hears well but has very poor vision. They are estimated to live for 30 to 45 [21] years. Its hairless, splotchy gray or gray-brown skin falls in folds to the shoulder, back and rump. The skin has a natural mosaic pattern which lends the rhino an armored appearance. The neck folds of the Javan rhinoceros are smaller than those of the Indian rhinoceros, but still form a saddle shape over the shoulder. Because of the risks of interfering with such an endangered species, however, the Javan rhinoceros is primarily studied through fecal sampling and camera traps. They are rarely [22] encountered, observed or measured directly. [edit]Distribution

and habitat

Java's Ujung Kulon National Park is the home of all remaining Javan rhinos.

Even the most optimistic estimate suggests there are fewer than 100 Javan rhinos in the wild. They [23] are considered one of the most endangered species in the world. The Javan rhinoceros is known to [10][24] survive in only one place, the Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java. The animal was once widespread from Assam and Bengal (where their range would have overlapped [15] with both the Sumatran and Indian rhinos ) eastward toMyanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and southwards to the Malay Peninsula and the [25] islands of Sumatra, Java and possibly Borneo. The Javan rhino primarily inhabits dense lowland rain forests, tall grass and reed beds that are plentiful with rivers, large floodplains, or wet areas with many mud wallows. Although it historically preferred low-lying areas, the subspecies in Vietnam has been pushed onto much higher ground (up to 2,000 m or 6,561 ft), probably because of human [13] encroachment and poaching. The range of the Javan rhinoceros has been shrinking for at least 3,000 years. Starting around 1000 BC, the northern range of the rhinoceros extended into China, but began moving southward at [26] roughly 0.5 km (0.31 mi) per year, as human settlements increased in the region. It likely became [15] locally extinct in India in the first decade of the 20th century. The Javan rhino was hunted to [27] extinction on the Malaysian peninsula by 1932. By the end of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Rhinoceros was believed extinct across all of mainland Asia. Local hunters and woodcutters in Cambodia claim to have seen Javan rhinos in the Cardamom Mountains, but surveys of the area [28] have failed to find any evidence of them. In the late 1980s a small population was found in the Cat [29] Tien area of Vietnam. However, the last individual was shot in 2010. A population may have existed on the island of Borneo as well, though these specimens could have been the Sumatran Rhinoceros, [25] a small population of which still lives there. [edit]Behavior

A museum specimen of a juvenile R. s. sondaicus

The Javan rhinoceros is a solitary animal with the exception of breeding pairs and mothers with calves. They will sometimes congregate in small groups at salt licks and mud wallows. Wallowing in mud is a common behavior for all rhinos; the activity allows them to maintain a cool body temperature and helps prevent disease and parasite infestation. The Javan rhinoceros does not generally dig its own mud wallows, preferring to use other animals' wallows or naturally occurring pits, which it will use its horn to enlarge. Salt licks are also very important because of the essential nutrients the rhino receives from the salt. Male home ranges are larger at 1220 km (58 miles) compared to the female, which are around 314 km (15 mi). Male territories overlap each other less than those of [30] the female. It is not known if there are territorial fights. Males mark their territory with dung piles and by urine spraying. Scrapes made by the feet in the ground and twisted saplings also seem to be used for communication. Members of other rhino species have a peculiar habit of defecating in massive rhino dung piles and then scraping their back feet in the dung. The Sumatran and Javan rhinoceros, while defecating in piles, do not engage in the scraping. This adaptation in behavior is thought to be ecological; in the wet forests of Java and [30] Sumatra, the method may not be useful for spreading odors. The Javan rhino is much less vocal than the Sumatran; very few Javan rhino vocalizations have ever been recorded. Adult Javan rhinos have no known predators other than humans. The species, particularly in Vietnam, is skittish and retreats into dense forests whenever humans are near. Though [7] a valuable trait from a survival standpoint, it has made the rhinos difficult to study. Nevertheless, when humans approach too closely, the Javan rhino becomes aggressive and will attack, stabbing [30] with the incisors of its lower jaw while thrusting upward with its head. Its comparatively anti-social behavior may be a recent adaptation to population stresses; historical evidence suggests that, like [10] other rhinos, the species was once more gregarious. [edit]Diet The Javan rhinoceros is herbivorous and eats diverse plant species, especially their shoots, twigs, young foliage and fallen fruit. Most of the plants favored by the species grow in sunny areas: in forest clearings, shrubland and other vegetation types with no large trees. The rhino knocks down saplings to reach its food and grabs it with its prehensile upper lip. It is the most adaptable feeder of all the rhino species. Currently it is a pure browser but probably once both browsed and grazed in its historical range. The rhino eats an estimated 50 kg (110 lb) of food daily. Like the Sumatran Rhino, it needs salt in its diet. The salt licks common in its historical range do not exist in Ujung Kulon, but the [30] rhinos there have been observed drinking seawater, likely for the same nutritional need. [edit]Conservation See also: Rhinoceros#Horns

A painting from 1861 depicts the hunting of R. s. sondaicus

The main factor in the continued decline of the Javan rhinoceros population has been poaching for horns, a problem that affects all rhino species. The horns have been a traded commodity in China for over 2,000 years where they are believed to have healing properties in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Historically, its hide was used to make armor for Chinese soldiers and some local tribes in Vietnam [31] believed the hide can be used to make an antidote for snake venom. Because the rhinoceros's range encompasses many areas of poverty, it has been difficult to convince local people not to kill a [26] seemingly useless animal which could be sold for a large sum of money. When the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora first went into effect in 1975, the Javan rhinoceros was placed under complete Appendix 1 protection: all international trade in the [32] Javan rhinoceros and products derived from it is illegal. Surveys of the rhinoceros horn black market have determined that Asian rhinoceros horn fetches a price as high as $30,000 per kilogram, [5]:31 three times the value of African rhinoceros horn. Loss of habitat because of agriculture has also contributed to its decline, though this is no longer as significant a factor because the rhinoceros only lives in one nationally protected park. Deteriorating habitats have hindered the recovery of rhino populations that fell victim to poaching. Even with all the conservation efforts, the prospects for the Javan rhinoceros's survival are grim. Because the population is restricted to one small area, they are very susceptible to disease and the problems of inbreeding. Conservation geneticists estimate that a population of 100 rhinos would be needed to [24] preserve the genetic diversity of this conservation reliant species. [edit]Ujung

Kulon

A Dutch hunter with a dead R. s. sondaicus in Ujung Kulon, 1895

The Ujung Kulon peninsula was devastated by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The Javan rhinoceros recolonized the peninsula after the explosion, but humans never returned in large [24] numbers, thus creating a haven. In 1931, as the Javan rhinoceros was on the brink of extinction in Sumatra, the government of the Dutch Indies declared the rhino a legally protected species, which it [13] has remained ever since. In 1967 when a census was first conducted of the rhinos in Ujung Kulon, only 25 animals were recorded. By 1980 that population had doubled, and has remained steady at about 50 ever since. Although the rhinos in Ujung Kulon have no natural predators, they have to compete for scarce resources with wild cattle which may keep the rhino's numbers below the [33] peninsula's carrying capacity. Ujung Kulon is managed by the Indonesian Ministry of [13] Forestry. Evidence of at least four baby rhinos was discovered in 2006, the most ever documented [34] for the species.

In March 2011, hidden-camera video was published showing adults and juveniles, indicating recent [35] matings and breeding. During the period from January to October 2011 the cameras had captured images of 35 rhinos. As of December 2011 a rhino breeding sanctuary in an area of 38,000 hectares [36] is being finalized to help reaching the target of 70 to 80 Javan rhinos by 2015. In April 2012, the WWF and International Rhino Foundation have placed 120 additional video cameras to the existing 40 to monitor better rhinos movements and judge the size of the animal's population. A latest survey has found far fewer females than males. There were only 4 females among 17 rhinos recorded in the eastern half of Ujung Kulon which it makes a potential setback in [37] efforts to save the species. [edit]Cat

Tien

Once widespread in Southeast Asia, the Javan rhinoceros was presumed extinct in Vietnam in the mid-1970s, at the end of the Vietnam War. The tactics used in the combat wrought havoc on the ecosystems of the region: use of napalm, extensive defoliation from Agent Orange, aerial bombing and use of landmines. The war also flooded the area with inexpensive weapons. After the war, many poor villagers, who previously relied on methods like pit traps, now had deadly weapons at their disposal, enabling them to become efficient poachers.

Head of a male R. s. annamiticus shot in Perak on the Malay Peninsula

In 1988 the assumption of the subspecies extinction was challenged when a hunter shot an adult female, proving the species had somehow survived the war. In 1989, scientists surveyed Vietnam's southern forests to search for evidence of other survivors. Fresh rhinoceros tracks belonging to at [38] least 15 rhinos were found along the Dong Nai River. Largely because of the rhinoceros, the region [31] they inhabited became part of the Cat Tien National Park in 1992. By early 2000s, their population was feared to have declined past the point of recovery in Vietnam, with some conservationists estimating that as few as 38 rhinos, and possibly no males, [24][34] survived. Conservationists debated whether or not the Vietnamese Rhinoceros had any chance of survival, with some arguing that rhinos from Indonesia should be introduced in an attempt to save [7][39] the population, with others arguing that the population could recover. Genetic analysis of dung samples collected in Cat Tien National Park in a survey from October 2009 to March 2010 showed that only a single individual Javan rhinoceros remained in the park. In early May 2010, the body of a Javan rhinos was found in the Park. The animal had been shot and its horn [40] removed by poachers. In October 2011 the International Rhino Foundation confirmed that the [11][41] [29] Javan rhinoceros was extinct in Vietnam, leaving only the rhinos in Ujung Kulon.

[edit]In

captivity

Captive Javan rhino, around 1900

A Javan rhinoceros has not been exhibited in zoos in a century. In the 19th century, at least four rhinos were exhibited in Adelaide, Calcutta and London. A total of at least 22 Javan rhinos have been documented as having been kept in captivity, and it is possible that the number is greater as the [42] species was sometimes confused with the Indian rhinoceros. The Javan rhinoceros never fared well in captivity. The oldest lived to be 20, about half the age the rhinos will reach in the wild. The last captive Javan rhino died at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia in 1907 [21] where the species was so little known that it had been exhibited as an Indian rhinoceros. Because a lengthy and expensive program in the 1980s and 1990s to breed the Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in zoos failed badly, attempts to preserve the Javan species in zoos are unlikely.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Javan rhinoceros is extinct in Vietnam; the last individual was poached for its horn in late 2009, found dead in 2010. Consequently, the annamiticus subspecies is extinct. This leaves only one small population of Javan rhinoceros in Java, Indonesia. Twenty rhinoceros faecal samples collected by CTNP and WWF between 2003 and 2006 were sent to Queens University in April 2010 for analysis. Bacterial diversity profiles of these samples concluded that there were at least two individuals present in the population in 2003-2006. WWF and Cat Tien National Park conducted a comprehensive survey of the Javan rhinoceros population from October 2009 to April 2010, to determine the population status through genetic analysis of rhinoceros dung samples collected. Dungdetection dogs were employed for the survey to increase the detection of rhinoceros dung. The team achieved good coverage, surveying the 6,500ha rhino core area three times and approximately 3,500ha of the wider area, where signs of rhino have not been recorded since 1993, to ensure no individuals were missed. Twenty-two dung samples were collected by the survey team from the rhino core area between October 2009 and February 2010 and sent to Queens University, Canada for genetic analysis. No signs of rhinoceros were found outside of the rhino core area at any time during the survey. From 5th February to mid-April, the team did not find any new rhinoceros footprints or dung in Cat Loc. On 29th April 2010 a Javan rhinoceros was found dead in Cat Loc; samples of skin and teeth were taken from the skeleton and sent to Queens University to be included in the genetic analyses. The genetic analyses confirmed that all of the dung samples collected in 2009/2010 belong to one individual, the same individual that was found dead in April 2010. Genetic sexing indicates that this individual was female. Bacterial

diversity profiles of the faecal samples, which discriminate among different individuals, supported the conclusions from the genetic work that there was 1 individual in 2009-2010, and showed that this individual was one of the two individuals present in 2003-2006. Given the good survey coverage of the area, the field observations, and the genetic and bacterial diversity work, we can therefore confirm that the Vietnamese population and the annamiticus subspecies of Javan rhinoceros is extinct. The Javan rhinoceros is therefore confined to one population on Java, Indonesia. Poaching was identified as the cause of the extinction of the subspecies; the last individual was shot in the leg, which probably caused its death, and the horn had been removed (Streicher et al 2010). Habitat loss due to agricultural conversion and development is also recognised as a driving force behind the loss of this population; the habitat of the species in Vietnam has declined from 75,000ha when it was rediscovered in 1988, to less than 30,000ha today. Furthermore, the population was restricted to only 6500ha of this habitat due to the presence of a heavily used motorbike dirt-track connecting settlements within the park, which restricted access to other parts of Cat Loc, and encroachment of agricultural land within the rhino core area.

5
The issues of poaching and habitat loss are not unique to Cat Tien National Park but are a nationwide problem in Vietnam, as a result of poor protection and law enforcement efforts and ineffective protected area management. Consequently, Vietnam is on the verge of an extinction crisis with many other species threatened by hunting and habitat loss. Significant improvements need to be made in law enforcement and protected area management in Vietnam, and the way in which conservation organisations cooperate with protected areas, to ensure that other species do not share the same fate as the Javan rhinoceros.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Javan rhinoceros
The Javan rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus is Critically Endangered (van Strien et al 2008), until recently surviving in two separate populations, in Indonesia and Vietnam, representing two of the three subspecies (Fernando et al 2006, van Strien et al 2008). R. sondaicus inermis Lesson 1838 formerly occurred in northeastern India, Bangladesh and Myanmar; this subspecies went extinct in the early 1900s. R. sondaicus sondaicus Desmarest 1922 formerly inhabited Thailand, Malaysia, Java and Sumatra but only 40-60 individuals remain, in 123,051ha of Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia (van Strien et al 2008). R. sondaicus annamiticus Heude 1892 formerly occurred in Lao, Cambodia, eastern Thailand and Vietnam. R. sondaicus annamiticus was presumed extinct by the western world after the Vietnam War until 1988, when reports were received of an individual having been hunted in southern Vietnam (Santiapillai et al 1993). A survey conducted in the same area of southern Vietnam in 1989 confirmed that individuals remained in approximately 75,000ha of habitat at the site known as Cat Loc, just north of the existing Cat Tien National Park (CTNP) (Schaller et al 1990) (Figure 1). Cat Loc (30,435ha) was subsequently designated as protected in 1992 and was incorporated into Cat Tien National Park in 1998.

1.2 WWF involvement

WWF have been involved in Cat Tien National Park in strengthening park management and in particular in Javan rhinoceros conservation, since the mid1990s. The large-scale Cat Tien National Park Conservation Project (CTNPCP) funded by the Netherlands government and implemented by WWF and CTNP ran from 1998 to 2004, with the following aims: i) Effective protection of Cat Tien National Park; ii) Human impacts reduced to sustainable levels; iii) Landscape-level strategy to support the management of CTNP; iv) Effective institutional and

administrative support. From 2005 to 2007 WWF continued to provide small-scale support for protection and monitoring of the rhino population and in 2009 funding was raised to support enforcement patrols in Cat Loc and to conduct a comprehensive survey of the population status, which was implemented in 2009/2010.

6 1.3 Javan rhinoceros surveys and population status in Vietnam

Javan rhinoceros was once common throughout much of lowland Vietnam and was still in high numbers during French colonial times (1859-1956). Hunting of rhinoceros by local people was common in the region before these times and also popular with colonialists. The widespread availability of military guns during and after the wars in Vietnam with France (1946-1954) and the USA (1955-1975) allowed more efficient hunting, contributing to the dramatic decline of the Javan rhinoceros population. Polet et al (1999) present anecdotal reports of a minimum of 39 Javan rhinoceros killings in the CTNP area from before 1957 to 1991. Owing to hunting and habitat loss due to defoliant spraying, it was thought by the western world that the subspecies was extinct until news was received that an individual was poached from the Cat Loc area in 1988 (Polet et al 1999). Although several surveys were conducted following the subspecies re-discovery in Vietnam, no reliable population estimate has ever been obtained. In 1989, researchers estimated that a maximum of 10-15 individuals inhabited the CTNP area (<75,000ha), based on field observations of footprints and interviews with local community members and officials (Schaller et al 1990). This was the last survey to document Javan rhinoceros in the Nam Cat Tien sector of CTNP (last sighting 1988) and in Binh Phuoc (Song Be) Province (Figure 1). All rhinoceros surveys that followed reported signs within the Cat Loc sector only. No signs of rhino have been found in the State Forest Enterprise land to the north and south of Cat Loc for at least 20 years (Nguyen Xuan Dang and Osborn 2004; Nguyen Xuan Dang et al 2004). In 1993 (based on a survey conducted in 1991), Santiapillai et al estimated a minimum of 8 individuals, or 8-12 individuals, survived in Cat Loc, based on observations of field tracks and anecdotal evidence from ethnic groups residing in Cat Loc. Signs were found in the northeastern part of Cat Loc and the Javan rhinoceros range was estimated at 35,000ha (all of Cat Loc). By 1999, field surveys and analysis of 111 tracks (plastercasts) conducted by WWF and CTNP, concluded that a minimum of seven and a maximum of eight individuals were present in Cat Loc, surviving in only 6,500ha known as the rhino core area (Polet et al 1999). The range of the rhinoceros population had declined by 28,500ha in 6 years although Cat Loc was still an estimated 27,850ha in size. Rapid human population growth and socio-economic expansion resulted in severe encroachment of national park land; much of the best rhinoceros habitat such as the flat alluvial land along the rivers and swamplands was converted to rice paddies, and remaining patches of broadleaved forest were converted to cashew plantations. The large settlement in the northeast of Cat Loc (village 5) and the new road constructed to this area from outside of the national park virtually disconnects the eastern part of Cat Loc from the west (Figure 2). Rhinos have not been recorded in the northeastern part of Cat Loc (east of the large commune within the protected area) since 1993. Vital access to water in the dry season has been considerably restricted; rhinoceros used to cross the Dong Nai River into Song Be Province (now known as Binh Phuoc), which marks the northern boundary of Cat Loc. However, much of the forest across the river in Binh Phuoc Province was converted to agricultural land, and a string of human settlements on the Lam Dong Province side of the river near the boundary of Cat Loc restricted access to the river along the edge of much of the rhino core area.

Furthermore, the development of dirt-tracks for motorbikes between settlements within and outside of Cat Loc effectively cut off access for the rhinoceros to the eastern part of Cat Loc, limiting the population predominantly to the 6500ha core area (Polet et al 1999). Figure 1. Rhino records in and around CTNP from the 1980s, taken from Schaller et al (1989). Rhinos killed (black cross), rhino sightings (black circles) rhino tracks (black squares). All records after 1993 are from the rhino core area (dotted red line). Later surveys estimated progressively fewer animals, with 5-8 estimated in 2004 (Polet and Ling 2004); and less than 5 estimated in 2006 (Fernando et al 2006), all from within the rhino core area. DNA analysis performed by Columbia University in 2004 on faecal samples collected by CTNP and WWF in 2001 and 2002, concluded that there were 5-6 individuals present, including both sexes (Vuong Duy Lap et al 2004). However, the accuracy of these conclusions is debatable, given that there is no

8
truly accurate method for population estimation from footprint analyses, and primers from Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) had to be used for the DNA analyses, hence creating considerable uncertainty of the results. The primers for Javan rhinoceros were developed in 2009 by Queens University, Canada. Consequently WWF (with financial support from WWF, USFWS, CEPF and the Hermsen Foundation) sought to conduct the first comprehensive field survey for Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam, to accurately determine the population status. The survey collected faecal samples for genetic analysis to identify the number and sex of individual rhinoceros. Detection dogs were employed to improve the detection rate of Javan rhinoceros dung. Detection dogs are an efficient method of locating target species dung (Smith et al 2003) and have been shown to be four times as effective in detecting dung in comparison to other survey methods (Rolland et al 2006).

1.3 Aims and objectives

Although immediate conservation needs for the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam were clear: to protect the rhinos and their remaining habitat (AsRSG 2000), the accurate population status was urgently required, to: i) identify whether investment in CTNP for Javan rhinoceros conservation was justified (defined by WWF as having individuals of both sexes present in the population); and; ii) to provide the necessary impetus for the Vietnamese Government to endorse more stringent protection measures and conservation actions. Shortly after the survey was completed, a dead Javan rhinoceros was found in the national park on 29th April 2010.