The Javan Rhino
Meet the Javan Rhino
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Genus: Rhinoceros
Species: Sondaicus
Its scientific name is Rhinoceros sondaicus. Belonging in the Rhinocerotoidia family, this genus only has one horn, distingushing it from the rest of the rhinos. There are three sub-species from the Javan Rhino: the Indonesia Sunda Rhino, the Vietnamese Sunda Rhino and the Indian Sunda Rhino. The Indian Sunda Rhino differenciates from the other two as the females do not have horns. Unfortuantely, the Vietnamese and the Indian Rhino are extinct.
Where does it live?
Javan Rhinos reside in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. Large numbers of these rhinos used to live in the Southeast asia region; they were near India, through Bangladesh and Southern China. The Javan Rhinos now have a single population in the Ujung Kulon National Park which is located in Indonesia. The two existing populations in Vietnam were sadly announced extinct in October 2011 as it was their tradition to poach the rhinos for their horns.
What does it eat?
Javan Rhinos can eat a large variety of plants; they mostly enjoy eating leaves, young shoots, and twigs. They feed in places where there is less shade and tall trees because a variety of different vegetation are found in these areas.
What's Going On?
There are only about 50 Javan Rhinos left on the face of the planet; they are the rarest large land mammal.Their natural habitat is being destroyed by deforestation as farmers need more land, transforing the logged areas into plantations and rice paddies. The Aregna palm is also a factor in the decrease of the population. This invasive species takes over the plants and shrubs the Javan Rhino eats, removing its food source.
Javan Rhinos are also being poached for their horn; it is used as an ingredient for traditional medicine in China and Vietnam.
Why should you care?
In the 2009 edition of Journal Science, paleontologist Jacquelyn Gill argued that large megaherbivores such as rhinos have a huge impact in our ecosystem by driving large scale ecosystem changes. The diversity and populations of plant communities can be altered by these rhinos which may lead to extinct plant species. These rhinos however can be counted more as selective lawnmowers than just regular lawn mowers. These animals eat grasses and ignore forbs and other delicate species. Trimming the grass then gives the forbs a chance to survive and diversify as they do not need compete for water and light with the grass. Taking away the rhinos will lead to abnormal changes in the ecosystem, landscape, and a specific plant species as a whole.
Javan rhinos are animals. All animals are indirectly important factors to our ecosystem because they are one of the major sources to the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle is the cycle of restoring carbon dioxide back into the air in exchange for oxygen. Even if we lost one species (in this case, the Javan rhino) from our ecosystem, these endangered species will start a chain effect and kill off many other species that are interrelated with them. These interrelated animals will kill off other animals and as an effect, there will be less carbon dioxide for us humans and other animals to breath in. Although the Javan rhino’s small population does not seem harmless, this small population can start numerous chain effects and kill off many different human and animal species.
