Endangered rhino calves caught on video in Indonesia

Mon, 28 Feb 2011

Jakarta - Video traps have caught footage of two new endangered rhino calves in an Indonesian national park, a conservation group said Monday.

The findings raised hopes for the Javan rhino breeding successfully in the wild, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said as it announced the footage, which was shot late last year.

One of the two calves, which were captured on film in November and December with separate mothers, was identified as a female.

The discovery was "a breath of fresh air" for the team and for the conservation of the rhinos, said Adhi Hariyadi, head of the WWF's project in the Ujung Kulon national park in the south-west of Java island.

"The majority of calves we have identified previously have been male," said the leader of the team, which has documented 14 rhino calves over the past 10 years in the park.

The new female arrival was a particular relief in light of several rhino deaths last year, park head Agus Priambudi said.

The WWF said it was "more than willing" to teach the park officers what it had learned about the rhinos and techniques to survey them to help with their future management, Hariyadi said.

The Javan rhino, or Sunda rhinoceros, is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union.

At about 1.5 meters high at the shoulder, it is smaller than its Indian cousin and used to roam throughout South-East Asia.

But the population has been reduced to around 50 in Ujung Kulon and a small community in a national park in Vietnam, estimated at under 10 individuals.

The species has been poached close to extinction for its horn, which although seldom longer than 25 centimeters, is highly prized in traditional Chinese medicine and can fetch 30,000 dollars a kilogram.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/369454,calves-caught-video-indonesia.html.