Protecting the Sumatran Rhino

t was a stiflingly hot and humid afternoon in the dense rainforests on the island of Sumatra when I saw something white. White is not a color you see much in the rainforest; it becomes highlighted against the dark green of the forest.

At first I did not know what it was, then I realized it was a skeleton. I became excited by what I may find, but as I got closer, the reality of the situation crystalized and my head started to spin. It was a full skeleton of a Sumatran rhino laying in a clearing along an animal trail. The vegetation had been flattened in a wide circle, the center of which was a solid branch dug deep into the ground with a thick wire snare dangling from it.

This critically endangered species had captured my imagination growing up a world away in England. I’d always dreamt of catching a glimpse of one—but not like this. This Sumatran rhino had been poached for its horn.

Changing paths
I had just turned 19. It was my second summer in Indonesia on what can only be described as my dream internship studying primates and tigers with Fauna & Flora International. I wanted to study animals in the rainforest, but the moment I saw the Sumatran rhino skeleton, I knew I had to change course and fight for the very survival of the species and places that intrigue and captivate me. I like to fight for species little known to the general public like the Sumatran rhino and the saola. The Sumatran rhino will always be at the pinnacle of my goals; I will do all I can to ensure it thrives in the wild once again.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s an uphill battle. But it’s not an impossible one.

Protecting a species
I co-authored the most-recent scientific assessment of the current conservation responses to save the species. In brief, we are falling short. Given that there are only around 100 left in the wild, it is clear that the survival of the Sumatran rhino now lies entirely within the hands of the government of Indonesia. WWF and partners like the International Rhino Foundation, Rhino Foundation of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society stand ready to assist in all ways possible.

The good news is that we know the key actions required to save the Sumatran rhino:

Consolidate all Sumatran rhinos into no more than three sites. This will allow the remaining animals to find each other and breed.Establish intensive protection zones in these three sites with strict regulations, patrolling infrastructure, increasing ranger presence and closely monitoring individual animals.Enhance the captive population so we have a viable population.Mange the entire population as one so animals will have to be moved between sites and to and from captivity to ensure genetic and population viability.

The plight of Sumatran rhinos needs global attention and commitments of conservation to succeed. Significant financial support for implementing the above priority actions are being provided by the US and German governments as well as the Disney Conservation Fund. More is needed. And nothing can be achieved without rapid decision making and the highest level of political blessing in Indonesia.

The science is telling us that we can’t put off mounting a serious, concerted effort to save Sumatran rhinos. We have pulled three species of rhino back from the brink so we know we can do the same for the Sumatran rhino. I’m going to do my best. And with your support, I know we can not only save the Sumatran rhino from the edge of extinction, but we can recover its numbers across Sumatra.

The greater one-horned rhino

The greater one-horned rhino is the largest of the rhino species. Once found across the entire northern part of the Indian sub-continent, rhino populations were severely depleted as they were hunted for sport and killed as agricultural pests. This pushed the species very close to extinction in the early 20th century and by 1975 there were only 600 individuals surviving in the wild.

Thanks to rigorous conservation efforts, their numbers have increased dramatically since 1975. By 2015, conservation efforts saw the population grow to 3,555 in the Terai Arc Landscape of India and Nepal, and the grasslands of Assam and north Bengal in northeast India.

The greater one-horned rhino is identified by a single black horn about 8-25 inches long and a grey-brown hide with skin folds, which give it an armor-plated appearance. Greater one-horned rhinos are solitary creatures, except when sub-adults or adult males gather at wallows or to graze. Males have loosely defined home ranges that are not well defended and often overlap. They are primarily grazers, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit and aquatic plants.

HABITAT LOSS

The enormous reduction in the range of rhinos was mainly caused by the disappearance of alluvial plain grasslands. Today, the need for land by the growing human population is a threat to the species. Many of the protected areas with rhinos have now reached the limit of the number of individuals they can support. This leads to human-rhino conflict as rhinos leave the boundaries of the protected areas to forage in the surrounding villages. Rhinos, mainly females, reportedly kill several people each year in India and Nepal.

Buffalo population of Yogyakarta drops to 1,208

The population of buffalo (Buballus buballis) in Yogyakarta province is decreasing year after year despite the superiority that the animals offer in terms of meat and dairy products.

Data at the provincial Agriculture Agency shows that there were 4,990 buffalos in the province in 2006 before decreasing to only 1,208 in 2011. 

The figure was far below the population of cows, which reached over 375,000 as of June 2011.

“This has happened not only here but also across Indonesia,” buffalo researcher Tridjoko Wisnu Murti of Gadjah Mada University’s School of Husbandry told The Jakarta Post, earlier this week.

He said that of the five regencies in the province, Sleman regency recorded the highest buffalo population of 678. The lowest population was found in Yogyakarta municipality, with only six.

According to Tridjoko, nationally the figure had decreased from 3.5 million to 1.3 million for the same period. This, he said, raised concern, especially at the time when the need for meat consumption in the country had been significantly increasing.

“Unfortunately, the government prefers importing cows to breeding buffalos,” he said, adding that Indonesia had an abundant population of the animal in the early 20th century.

He blamed the condition on the lack of the government’s attention to the animal despite what it offered.

Tridjoko, who is also a nutritionist and an expert in dairy technology, said that in terms of quality, buffalo meat was better than cow because the former contained less fat.

Reports said that not only did the buffalo have 70 to 90 percent less fat compared to beef, it also had 50 percent less cholesterol. And on top of that, it was higher in protein, iron and all omega and amino acids. 

“The nutrition value of 5 liters of buffalo milk equals to that of 10 liters of cow milk,” Tridjoko said.

Other factors blamed for the decrease in the buffalo population include the use of motorized tractors instead of buffalo-ridden ploughs to cultivate rice fields and increasing consumption of buffalo meat, especially among coastal communities.

Tridjoko expressed concern that if nothing was done by the government to increase the population, buffalos faced extinction in Indonesia. 

By growing buffalos the government would be implementing pro-poor, pro-growth, pro-health, pro-job and pro-environment policies, he said.

Buffalos are said to be able to adapt easily to the environment and easy to feed because they can eat agricultural waste while cows require complicated food supplies

Social Structure, Reproduction, and Sleep Habit of Komodo Dragon

Social Structure

Because large Komodos cannibalize young ones, the young often roll in fecal material, thereby assuming a scent that the large dragons are programmed to avoid. Young dragons also undergo rituals of appeasement, with the smaller lizards pacing around a feeding circle in a stately ritualized walk. Their tail is stuck straight out and they throw their body from side to side with exaggerated convulsions.

Reproduction and Development

Most mating occurs between May and August. With a group assembled around the carrion, the opportunity for courtship arrives. Dominant males can become embroiled in ritual combat in their quest for females. Using their tails for support, they wrestle in upright postures, grabbing each other with their forelegs as they attempt to throw the opponent to the ground. Blood is usually drawn and the loser either runs or remains prone and motionless.

The female Komodo lays about 30 eggs. A delay in laying may serve to help the clutch avoid the brutally hot months of the dry season. In addition, unfertilized eggs may have a second chance with a subsequent mating. The female lays her eggs in depressions dug on hill slopes or within the pilfered nests of megapodes—large, chicken-like birds that make nests of heaped earth mixed with twigs that may reach 3 feet (1 meter) in height and 10 feet (3 meters) across. While the eggs are incubating—about nine months—females may lie on the nests, protecting their future offspring. No evidence exists, however, for parental care of newly hatched Komodos.

The hatchlings weigh less than 3.5 ounces (100 grams) and average 16 inches (40 centimeters) in length. Their early years are precarious, and they often fall victim to predators, including their fellow Komodos. They feed on a diverse diet of insects, small lizards, snakes and birds. Should they live five years, they can weigh 55 pounds (25 kilograms) and stretch 6.5 feet (2 meters) long. By this time, they have moved on to bigger prey such as rodents, monkeys, goats, wild boars and the most popular Komodo food, deer. Slow growth continues throughout their lives, which may last more than 30 years

Sleep Habits

They escape the heat of the day and seek refuge at night in burrows that are just barely bigger than they are.

Lifespan

Dragons live about 30 years in the wild, but scientists are still studying this.

KOMODO DRAGON

Physical Description

A large lizard, Komodo dragons have long tails; strong, agile necks and sturdy limbs. Adult Komodo dragons are an almost-uniform stone color with distinct, large scales. Juvenile dragons may display more vibrant coloring and patterning. Their tongues are yellow and forked, appropriate for their draconian name.

The muscles of the Komodo's jaws and throat allow it to swallow huge chunks of meat with astonishing rapidity. Several movable joints, such as the intramandibular hinge opens the lower jaw unusually wide. The stomach expands easily, enabling an adult to consume up to 80 percent of its own body weight in a single meal, which most likely explains some exaggerated claims for immense weights in captured individuals. When threatened, Komodos can throw up the contents of their stomachs to lessen their weight in order to flee.

Although males tend to grow larger and bulkier than females, no obvious morphological differences mark the sexes. One subtle clue does exist: a slight difference in the arrangement of scales just in front of the cloaca. Sexing Komodos remains a challenge for human researchers; the dragons themselves appear to have little trouble figuring out who is who.

Size

The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the world. The largest verified specimen reached a length of 10.3 feet (3.13 meters) and weighed 366 pounds (166 kilograms). The largest wild dragons more typically weigh about 154 pounds (70 kilograms).

Native Habitat

Komodo dragons are limited to a few Indonesian islands of the Lesser Sunda group including Rintja, Padar and Flores, and of course the island of Komodo. They live in tropical savanna forests, but range widely over the islands, from beach to ridge top.

Food/Eating Habits

Monitors can see objects as far away as 985 feet (300 meters), so vision does play a role in hunting, especially as their eyes are better at picking up movement than at discerning stationary objects. Their retinas possess only cones, so they may be able to distinguish color but have poor vision in dim light. They have a much smaller hearing range than humans. The result is an animal that cannot hear such sounds as a low-pitched voice or a high-pitched scream.

Vision and hearing are useful, but the Komodo's sense of smell is its primary food detector. The Komodo smells much like a snake does. It uses its long, yellow forked tongue to sample the air, after which the two tongue tips retreat to the roof of the mouth where they make contact with the Jacobson's organs. The chemical analyzers "smell" a deer by recognizing airborne molecules. If the concentration present on the left tongue tip is higher than that sampled from the right, the Komodo knows that the deer is approaching from the left. This system, along with an undulatory walk in which the head swings from side-to-side, helps the dragon sense the existence and direction of odoriferous carrion from as far away as 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), when the wind is right.

When the Komodo is hunting and catches its prey, such as a deer, it attacks the feet first, knocking the deer off balance. When dealing with smaller prey, it may lunge straight for the neck. The dragon's basic strategy is simple: try to smash the quarry to the ground and tear it to pieces. Strong muscles driving powerful claws accomplish some of this, but the Komodo's teeth are its most dangerous weapon. They are large, curved and serrated and tear flesh with efficiency. If the deer fails to escape immediately, the Komodo will continue to rip it apart. Once convinced that its prey is incapacitated, the dragon may break off its offensive for a brief rest. The deer is now badly injured and in shock. The dragon then launches the final blow, a belly attack. The deer quickly bleeds to death and the Komodo begins to feed.

Its tooth serrations harbor bits of meat from the Komodo's last meal, either fresh prey or carrion. This protein-rich residue supports large numbers of bacteria. They have found some 50 different bacterial strains, at least seven of which are highly septic, in the saliva. If the prey somehow maneuvers away and escapes death at this point, chances are that its victory, and it, will be short- lived. The infections it incurs from the Komodo bite will probably kill it in less than a week. In addition to the bacteria in their saliva, researchers have recently documented that Komodos do have a venom gland found in their lower jaw. In addition to the damage the bacteria in their saliva do, the venom prevents the blood from clotting.

The Komodo bite is not deadly to another Komodo, however. Dragons wounded in battle with their comrades appear to be unaffected by the otherwise deadly bacteria and venom. Scientists are searching for antibodies in Komodo blood that may be responsible for saving them from the fate of the infected prey.

Large mammalian carnivores, such as lions, tend to leave 25 to 30 percent of their kill unconsumed, declining the intestines, hide, skeleton and hooves. Komodos eat much more efficiently, forsaking only about 12 percent of the prey. They eat bones, hooves and swaths of hide. They also eat intestines, but only after swinging them vigorously to scatter their contents. This behavior removes feces from the meal.

Komodo dragons eat almost any kind of meat. They scavenge from carcasses or stalk animals ranging in size from small rodents to large water buffalo. The young feed on mostly small gecko lizards or insects. They are tertiary predators (predator at the top of the food chain) and are cannibalistic. They can detect carrion from a considerable distance, about 2.5 miles (4 km), and actively seek it out. When hunting, Komodos hunt along game trails, where they wait for deer or boar to pass by. They then attack the prey; most attempts are unsuccessful in bringing down an animal. However, if the dragon is able to bite the prey, toxic bacteria and venom in the saliva will kill the prey within the next few days. After the prey animal dies, which may take up to four days, Komodos use their powerful sense of smell to locate the dead animal. A kill is usually shared by many Komodo dragons and very little is wasted.

The Smithsonian's National Zoo's Komodo dragon eats rodents, chicks and rabbits weekly. Occasionally, he gets fish.

Badak Jawa

Horned Javan Rhinoceros-one or small (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is Rhinocerotidae family members and one of five extant rhinoceroses. This rhino into the same genus with Indian rhino and have skin that resembles armor bermosaik. The rhino has a 3.1 to 3.2 m long and 1.4 to 1.7 m high. The rhino is smaller than the Indian rhinoceros and closer to the body with a large black rhino. Horn size is usually less than 20 cm, smaller than the other horn rhino species.

This rhino rhino once one of Asia's most widely spread. Although called "Javan", is not limited to animals living on the island of Java alone, but throughout the country, throughout Southeast Asia and in India as well as China. The species is now critically endangered, with only two known populations in the wild, and none in zoos. This rhino is probably the rarest mammals on earth. [4] The population of 40-50 rhinos live in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Javan rhino population in the wild the other is in the Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam with an estimated population of no more than eight in 2007. Population decline Javan caused by hunting to take its horn, which is very valuable in traditional Chinese medicine, with a price of $ 30,000 per kilogram on the black market. [4] Reduced rhino population is also due to habitat loss, which is mainly caused by the war, like the war Vietnam in Southeast Asia also leads to reduced Javan rhino population and hinder recovery. [5] The only remaining two are in protected areas, but the Javan rhino hunted still be at risk, susceptible to disease and causes shrinking of genetic diversity in breeding disturbed. WWF Indonesia's second attempt to develop a Java rhino because in the event of disease or natural disasters such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes Krakatau, Javan rhino population will be immediately destroyed. [6] In addition, because of the invasion of steps to (arenga) and competition with bull for space and resources, it is increasingly desperate population. [6] The areas identified are safe and relatively close Hazy National Park on Mount Salak, West Java, which was once the habitat of the Javan rhinoceros. [6]

Javan Rhino can live for 30-45 years in the wild. These rhinos live in the lowland rain forest, wet meadows and areas of the flood plain. Javan rhinos are mostly quiet, except for courtship and rearing children, although a group can sometimes congregate near pools and places to get minerals. Adult rhino has no predators in their. Javan Rhino usually avoids humans, but will attack if it feels threatened. Scientists and conservationists rarely study the animals directly due to their rarity and the danger of interfering with such an endangered species. Researchers using camera traps and fecal samples to measure their health and behavior. Javan rhinoceros less studied than other rhino species

A Ranger Determined to Save Sumatra's Tigers

Abeng, coordinator of WWF’s Tiger Protection Units in Indonesia, has lived on the island of Sumatra his whole life. He leads our efforts to protect last wild tigers in Tesso Nilo-Bukit TigapuluhBukit Tigapuluh, or “30 Hills,” one of the last places on earth where elephants, tigers and orangutans coexist.

I’m old enough to remember when many tigers still roamed the forests, but young enough to know that if we don’t act now I could live long enough to see the last Sumatran tiger die from a poacher’s snare or bullet.

This is why I now devote myself to saving Sumatra’s tigers.

“We need a massive crackdown on poaching and trafficking if we are to save our wild tigers.”

Abeng
Coordinator of WWF’s Tiger Protection Units in Indonesia

There may be fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left. Our camera traps have identified 47 in the Tesso Nilo–Bukit Tigapuluh landscape. And our Tiger Protection Units are fighting to save every one. Our small team of 10 patrols key habitats and collects data on illegal trade by identifying shops that sell tiger parts, investigating trafficking routes, and identifying the players involved in deadly wildlife crime. We share our data with local authorities and urge them to pursue the poachers and traffickers.

A memorable case was when we were working together with the local government authorities to track members of a smuggling ring in Sumatra. We were in the suspect’s house when one of my team literally followed his nose to where a tiger skin had been concealed, soaking in a strong smelling chemical often used to preserve skins. The tiger’s bones, which are highly valued on the black market for their supposed medicinal value, were not recovered.

Our enemies are determined and dangerous

One measure of my success as a ranger is that I am no longer free to chase the poachers as I once did. My face has become too familiar for me to continue operating undercover. Instead of catching traffickers myself, I help my patrol teams and monitor wildlife trade cases in court to ensure that the perpetrators get the maximum sentence.

In 2006, at the height of the poaching spree, we confiscated up to 70 snares in a month. By 2009, those numbers had dropped to a mere handful. But we know that in places where WWF is not yet working, the killing continues. Data from our WWF collaborators at TRAFFIC show that at least 66 Sumatran tigers have been killed in recent years, with more than half poached from protected areas such as national parks.

On the edge

Not so long ago, our neighboring islands of Java and Bali had their own tigers, too. But their forests were cleared for crops and timber, and their tigers were hunted relentlessly for their skins and teeth and bones. I believe their people are poorer for the loss.

I do not wish such a future for my island or for my family. We need a massive crackdown on poaching and trafficking if we are to save our wild tigers. Once believed to be eternal, they are now in danger of disappearing forever.

How you can help

Back A Ranger: As the only on-the-ground antipoaching group in the area, we face some limits—but we pride ourselves on our accomplishments. We need your help to achieve more. Please support our efforts and Back A Ranger. One hundred percent of your donation will provide vital support to men and women on the frontlines of battling wildlife crime.

Save 30 Hills: Every minute five football fields of rainforest in Sumatra is cleared for timber and replaced with pulpwood, rubber and oil palm plantations. As forests disappear, wildlife become increasingly vulnerable to humans, especially poachers. But there is a chance that we can save 30 Hills and the species we all love so much.