The fate of a species

Published December 24, 2013
A rhino cares for its calf at Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park. – Photo by AFP
A rhino cares for its calf at Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park. – Photo by AFP
A rhino wades through water at Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park. – Photo by AFP
A rhino wades through water at Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park. – Photo by AFP
Indonesian rangers walking past a statue marking Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province.  – Photo by AFP
Indonesian rangers walking past a statue marking Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
Indonesian rangers from the Rhino Monitoring Unit (RMU) carry supplies as they prepare for a-ten-day monitoring trip at Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
Indonesian rangers from the Rhino Monitoring Unit (RMU) carry supplies as they prepare for a-ten-day monitoring trip at Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
A member of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) shows how electical fencing will be put up to protect rhinos and other animals walking out from the forest at the Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
A member of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) shows how electical fencing will be put up to protect rhinos and other animals walking out from the forest at the Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
Indonesian members of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) inspect the forest inside Ujung Kulon National Park, in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
Indonesian members of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) inspect the forest inside Ujung Kulon National Park, in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
A member of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) studies a footprint of a rhino in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
A member of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) studies a footprint of a rhino in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
A member of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) showing compounds of a rhino foot print in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP
A member of the JRSCA (Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area) showing compounds of a rhino foot print in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia's Banten province. – Photo by AFP

The Javan rhinoceros, known more precisely as the Sunda rhinoceros, was once the most widespread of Asian rhinoceroses. It ranged from the islands of Java and Sumatra, throughout Southeast Asia, and into India and China. Today the species is critically endangered, with only one known population in the wild, and no individuals in captivity. It is possibly the rarest large mammal on earth as there are thought to be around only 50 of the animals left in existence, all living in the wild in Ujung Kulon National Park, on the western tip of Indonesia's main island of Java. Conservationists hope that the opening of the country's first ever Javan rhino sanctuary, which will open in the park in the coming months, will help pull the animal back from the brink of extinction.

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