WWF urges action to protect Borneo rhino's habitat

• Chew Bakar

  2 Jul 09, 17:17

  

  Wed Jul 1, 7:06am ET

  KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – The future of one of the world's rarest animals, the Borneo rhino, depends on action taken to protect the forest reserves where it lives, conservation group WWF said Wednesday.

  Malaysian wildlife officials say that only 30 Borneo rhino remain in the wilderness of Sabah state, on Malaysia's side of Borneo, the island which it shares with Indonesia.

  "The future of rhinos in Borneo now depends on how seriously the forest reserves can be managed sustainably," Raymond Alfred, senior manager of WWF-Malaysia's Borneo Species Programme said in a statement.

  Alfred's comments came after his team captured a rare image of the near-extinct animal, a female believed to be about 20 years old.

  WWF said that the image, along with the identification of two rhino calves, added weight to the need to manage the species' forest home sustainably.

  Alfred urged forestry and wildlife authorities in Sabah, and the police, to adopt "strong and co-ordinated enforcement to ensure the survival" of the species.

  WWF said the rhinos' range was being affected by the expansion of oli palm plantations, and called for action to protect its habitat from fragmentation.

  The Borneo sub-species is the rarest of all rhinos, distinguished from other Sumatran rhinos by its relatively small size, small teeth and distinctively shaped head.

  The Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the world's most endangered species with few left on Indonesia's Sumatra island, Sabah and peninsular Malaysia.

• Chew Bakar

  2 Jul 09, 22:48

  

  Bornean Rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrisoni
  

• Chew Bakar

  3 Jul 09, 22:58

  

  Bornean Rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrisoni

• Chew Bakar

  3 Jul 09, 23:08

  

  Related Sumatran Rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis

• lianamaster

  4 Jul 09, 16:22

  Lovely pictures. I recalled a documentary on OKTO about killing rhinos for their horns. Sad....

• Bangulzai

  5 Jul 09, 16:32

  hehe, i take this chance to link to another Rhino article:  

  Low Rhino Birthrates

   

  http://www.sgforums.com/forums/1902/topics/351076

   

• Chew Bakar

  6 Jul 09, 20:25

  I'm always fascinated by rhino. Encountered one Sumatran Rhino once in the wild. Very shy, just a glimpse make the whole trip so memorable.

• lianamaster

  30 Jul 09, 09:05

  Originally posted by Chew Bakar:

  I'm always fascinated by rhino. Encountered one Sumatran Rhino once in the wild. Very shy, just a glimpse make the whole trip so memorable.

  I met a few rhino during my visit in Taiwan.... so lovely...