If you keep up with Rhino news, you know that Sumatran Rhinos are in danger of becoming extinct. Last year, such fears grew when the Sumatran Rhino was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia. However, some how has been revived when the World Wildlife Fund posted that researchers had in fact made contact with the Sumatran Rhino for the first time in 40 years in Kalimantan, located in Borneo, Indonesia. The discovery is being hailed as a “major conservation success” by Dr. Efransjah, the CEO WWF-Indonesia.
The Rhino is in fact a female around 4-5 years old and was safely captured by conservationists last week. According the article they posted on their website and UK Facebook page, she stayed in a temporary enclosure for about a week before being taken to her new home this week in a protected forest around 150 km away from where she was found by researchers. The WWF is working as part of the Sumatran Rhino Conservation Team along with others in order to relocate at least three other Rhinos to the Sanctuary as well.
Back in 2013, the WWF found footprints belonging to Sumatran Rhinos in the same area the female Rhino was found, along with capturing footage of one in the same forest where the footprints had been found, indicating that the Sumatran Rhino had not gone extinct in Kalimantan. Since this sighting, researchers have identified 15 Sumatran Rhinos in three populations located in Kutai Barat. As of right now, researchers estimate that there are less than 100 Sumatran Rhinos left in the wild, with most of those Rhinos being located in Sumatra.
The Sumatran Rhino is one of two Rhino Species found in Indonesia. The other species, the Javan Rhino, can be found in Ujung Kulon National Park, where around 63 Rhinos live happily.
For more information on the Sumatran Rhino, other species the WWF is fighting to save and what you can do to help the WWF with future conservation efforts, you can go the Sumatran Rhino page on their website at wwfpanda.org.