Jakarta – 34 video cameras will follow around the Javan rhinos wherever they go, in an attempt to find out more about the world’s most endangered large mammal and help to prevent the species from going extinct.
With fewer than 60 Javan rhinos left in the world, the camera footage is a useful tool to get to know more about how these single-horned animals use their habitat and thus help to protect them.
Cameras installed in Indonesia`s Ujung Kulon National Park, home to around 50 of the animals, have already helped to reveal some previously unknown behaviours of the rare mammal, which can weigh 2,300kg and measure over 3m in length.Now 34 cameras have been installed in all areas known as the rhino’s habitat blocks on the southern tip of Java and record the large creatures 24 hours a day.
“The project is helping the most endangered large mammal species,” said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in Ujung Kulon National Park. “We’ve already recorded video of nine individuals, including a mother and calf.”
The rhino, known for its shyness, has been in the limelight already in the past. One of the female Java rhinos made headlines across the world last year when she was captured wrecking one of the cameras , possibly out of fear that it may hurt her calves.
The project is run by WWF and the Ujung Kulon National Park.
Camera traps are fairly basic photographic equipment with infra red triggers which take a picture every time they sense movement in the forest. Extensive research is required to determine the best place to locate the camera, which is usually attached to a tree. Cameras are often located in remote and inaccessible parts of the forest where the creatures can be found.
Not enough calves
In locations like Ujung Kulon, a protective waterproof box is vital to ensure the camera can cope with the rain and humid conditions.
“Video serves as a positive tool to provide evidence on the urgency of saving this species, said Agus Priambudi, head of Ujung Kulon National Park. “It is important to be able to show the real condition of Javan rhinos to local and central governments.”
Of the two populations left, the Indonesian population in Ujung Kulon National Park has the better chance of survival since it is the only one that still has proof of breeding. But a healthy population should have several calves born each year. There has been no verifiable signs of Javan rhinos breeding in Cat Tien NP in Vietnam.
“We are concerned because we have not seen many very young calves for several years and worry that the population may be dependent on two or three breeding females,” Hariyadi said.
Conservationists want to identify another suitable site, where a second population could be established,
This will help diffuse the danger of all the animals living in one place, which is risky because of the danger of catastrophic events like disease, eruptions from nearby volcanoes and other unforeseen disasters,” said Susie Ellis, Executive Director of the International Rhino Foundation.
To prevent the rhino population from going extinct, the Government of Indonesia launched the rhino conservation strategy in 2007 entitled “Rhino Century Project” (Proyek Abad Badak) in partnership with WWF, International Rhino Foundation (IRF), Asian Rhino Project (ARP), Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI), and US Fish and Wildlife Service, to create an additional Javan rhino population by translocating a few individuals from Ujung Kulon to another suitable site.
New footage shows rare rhinos in Indonesia: WWF
AFP 5 Mar 09;
JAKARTA (AFP) — New infra-red footage released Thursday captures hitherto unseen images of elusive Javan rhinos, the most endangered mammal in the world with less than 60 individuals believed to remain alive.
The grainy video was released by environmental group WWF which has been monitoring the rhinos for about 20 years in the rugged Ujung Kulon National Park on the southern tip of Indonesia's Java island.
The clips show a mother and calf and a large male wallowing in various mud holes, revealing behaviour researchers had never seen before and helping with the identification of individual animals.
In one clip shot at night, a female rhino chases a wild pig away from her mud hole.
"These rhinos are very shy. In the last 20 years our team has only seen rhinos two or three times with their own eyes," WWF Asian rhino coordinator Christy Williams told AFP.
He said WWF had previously operated still cameras in the dense jungle but the rhinos -- which can weigh 2,300 kilogrammes (5,070 pounds) and measure over three metres (10 feet) in length -- were often frightened by the shutter and fled the area or attacked the cameras.
Under an expanded project to film the animals, 34 cameras with infra-red triggers which take video any time they sense movement in the forest have been painstakingly installed in likely rhino haunts.
Typically they are concealed in trees overlooking wallowing ponds and streams and most of the clips released Thursday show the animals wading or wallowing in mud.
"The videos are showing a lot of young animals but not many calves so even though there is evidence of breeding it is not enough," Williams said.
"A healthy rhino population should be increasing at about seven percent a year or about three or four calves, but here we are getting three or four calves every four or five years."
The WWF is identifying other suitable rhino habitat areas on Java with a view to resettling some individuals from Ujung Kulon to boost their chances of survival.
"This will help diffuse the danger of all the animals living in one place, which is risky because of the danger of catastrophic events like disease, eruptions from nearby volcanoes and other unforeseen disasters," International Rhino Foundation executive director Susie Ellis said.
Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in Ujung Kulon, said the camera project was helping "the most endangered large mammal species".
"Within a month since the new cameras were installed, we've already recorded video of nine individuals, including a mother and calf," he said.
"We are concerned because we have not seen many very young calves in Ujung Kulon National Park for several years and worry that the population may be dependent on two or three breeding females."
Rhino experts from around the world met in Indonesia earlier this week to discuss plans and progress on protecting rhinos.
"Action needs to be urgently taken because the rhino population has stagnated," Williams said.
Researchers said a smaller population of Javan rhinos in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park no longer appeared to be breeding.