Dwindling food supplies, water crisis threaten Javan rhino

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 24 Aug 09;

Indonesia’s endangered rhinos are increasingly threatened by declining food resources coupled with a projected water scarcity due to climate change that would dry out the rhinos’ wallows in jungles, a study reveals.

The study, conducted by the Indonesian Rhino Foundation (YABI), said the greatest threat for the rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten was the sharp decline in food resources thanks to the invasion of a palm species called Langkap (Arenga Obtusifolia).

“More recent trends in climate change suggest a variation in seasonal rainfall. The water scarcity may restrict the rhinos’ movement,” Widodo Ramono, a senior scientist at the YABI, said.

He said the expected shortage of rainfall would become a serious problem for the preservation of the rhinos’ wallows for bathing.

The study, carried out in July, was jointly supported by the International Rhino Foundation, the ASEAN Rhino Foundation, the WWF and the Ministry of Forestry.

The study was aimed at assessing the geology, soil type and proximity to water in order to find suitable areas for the planned relocation of the Javanese rhino.

The proposed areas are adjacent to Gunung Honje, Gunung Halimun, Masigit Kareumbi and Leuweung Sancang, all of them close to the Ujung Kulon area on the western tip of Java Island.

“The spatial analysis suggests there is good possibility of an area on the Ujung Kulon peninsula and on Gunung Hone suitable for the Javan rhino,” the study said.

The Javanese rhinos’ habitat would be expanded from 38,000 hectares in Ujung Kulon to 42,000 hectares, up to the Mount Honje area.

The study showed that other proposed relocation areas were surrounded by intensive land use pressures which would threaten the rhinos.

Once the most widespread of Asian rhinoceroses, the Javan rhinos ranged from the islands of Indonesia, throughout Southeast Asia and into India and China.

However, due to habitat loss and poaching for their horns, Javan rhinos are now the rarest of the world’s five rhino species and considered critically endangered.

The shy rhinos can now be found only in two locations in the world – one in Ujung Kulon, which is home to an estimated 50 Javan rhinos, and another in the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam Park in Vietnam, whose rhino population is probably no more than 10.

The WWF has installed 34 video cameras in the Ujung Kulon jungle in an effort to track the lives of the Javan rhinos. In June, the WWF’s camera captured images of the rhinos, showing a mother and a calf and a large male wallowing in various mud holes. The WWF has identified about 37 individuals in Ujung Kulon through camera tracking.

Widodo said Javan rhinos preferred to live in lowland forest in areas less than 100 meters above sea level.

“However, the expected sea level rises because of climate change could overwhelm its prime habitat which would threaten the rhinos,” he said.

The study, however, admitted that in Gunung Honje, mounting threats, arising from increasing human activity due to high population pressures, included potential rhino poaching and anthrax.

The Banten provincial administration and the legislative council have voiced their support for plans to expand the habitat of the Javan rhinos at Ujung Kulon.