Indonesia: two baby Java rhinos spotted in Ujung Kulon park

The Java rhino has large folds of skin resembling armor.

(Photo illustration) Getty Images

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2 min

It's a discovery that gives hope: two young rhinos from Java have just been seen at the western end of the island of the same name.

These two new specimens now make it possible to identify 74 rhinos of their species still living in the wild, but in great danger of extinction. 

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With our regional correspondent in Kuala Lumpur

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Their thick skin made of many folds may look like armor and give them a warlike image, the rhinos of Java are now worrying especially by their very small number.

Less than a hundred specimens are now alive, and the timidity of these colossi who show themselves little, makes the count even more difficult.

Seeing

near their mother is therefore excellent news shared by the authorities of Ujung Kulon Park, located at the southwestern end of Java, this Sunday, September 20.

Because over the decades, the territory of these large herbivores has shrunk like the skin of grief.

The poaching of horns sought after for their alleged medicinal properties, but also the war in Vietnam and Indochina, got the better of populations previously present throughout South-East Asia.

Add to that a very long gestation period, 16 months which only occurs every 3 or 4 years, if a solitary female manages to mate with an equally solitary male, and this news takes exceptional turns. 

But we should not rejoice too quickly.

If the Java rhinos are watched like milk on fire in Ujung Kulon Park, many threats still hang over them, including the shadow of the active volcano Krakatau, not far from the park where the last Java rhinos live.

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• Wildlife

• Indonesia

• Threatened species