Indonesian Habitat Project May Be the Last Hope for Javan Rhino

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 10 Mar 11;

With about 60 Javan rhinoceroses left in the world and little scientific research available on them, prospects for the species’ survival look bleak, environmentalists have warned.

Widodo Ramono, executive director of the Indonesian Rhino Foundation (YABI), said on Tuesday that scientists and government officials were working together to prevent the species’ extinction, including assessing ways to establish new populations over the long term.

“We’re racing against time. If we don’t do anything, the situation won’t get any better,” he said.

“If we want to save the Javan rhino, then there’s no other way but to look for other suitable areas for its habitat. If we can’t find any, then we have to lock them up in zoos. But even then their survival would not be guaranteed because not all zoos are properly managed.”

The Javan rhino is one of the smallest of the rhino species and was once the most widespread of the Asian rhinos, inhabiting almost all of Java’s lowland forests.

However, its population was decimated by poaching and loss of habitat, and the only surviving population in Indonesia consists of 50 to 60 rhinos in Banten’s Ujung Kulon National Park.

To stave off the threat of extinction, the government and nongovernmental organizations funded by the International Rhino Foundation have been developing the Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area, which aims to improve the animals’ habitat at Gunung Honje, in the east of the park, and draw in more rhinos to encourage breeding.

Agus Priambudi, who heads the national park, said establishing the JRSCA would also help with crucial research into the rhino, including about its reproductive cycle, in a bid to find ways to bolster its population.

“The JRSCA has already included the government’s action plan for Javan rhinos,” he said.

“We’re targeting an increase in the rhino population to 70 or 80 individuals by 2015. After that, we’ll start developing new populations outside the national park. Our target is five to 10 populations. By 2075, we want to increase the total wild population to 1,000 individuals.”

At least two rhinos have already been spotted in the JRSCA.

Citing the successful program that increased the Indian rhino population by more than 400 percent over the past 50 years, Agus said he was optimistic the JRSCA project would also do well.

Widodo said, however, that a lot of work still needed to be done before the rhino population could be increased, including improving the quality of its habitat within the park. “It’s very simple: All living creatures need a habitat in which to survive, and if their habitat is destroyed, they won’t make it,” he said.

Threats to the Javan rhino include a lack of food, disease, poaching and its long breeding cycle of 18 to 20 months.

“The idea to save the Javan rhino depends on two actions being taken simultaneously: restoration of their habitat in the national park and preparations to accommodate new populations,” Widodo said.

“If we manage to get a good number of individuals, we can try to pick and choose individuals to start new populations. If we just have one population, then from a conservation point of view, it’s not healthy.”

Susie Ellis, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, said breeding new populations would have to begin with a limited pool, given the small existing population.

“A desirable new population would have at least 10 animals, but we recognize that in the case of the Javan rhino, where probably no more than 48 animals remain, a smaller new population is what is realistic,” she said in an e‑mail to the Jakarta Globe. “A founder population of at least 10 is desirable but likely improbable.”

She said disease was a fairly small danger for a new population. “[But] the rhinos themselves may be at risk from disease from local cattle,” she said.

“That is definitely a concern, and so evaluating a ‘real’ second habitat would entail a thorough analysis of disease risk before proceeding.

“There is always a possibility of genetic issues within the current population, but frankly, numbers now are so small that we just have to work with what we have.”

Ellis added that while the JRSCA was not a high-risk project, trying to build new populations could be.

“Actually, establishing a second population carries far more risk, but is the only option to secure the long-term survival of the species, which could easily be wiped out if one single catastrophic event occurs in Ujung Kulon, such as a disease outbreak, volcanic eruption and resulting tsunami,” she said.