The Sumatran rhino is one of the rarest large mammals on the planet & there are no more than 100 left on the entire planet.
A special breeding program at Way Kambas National Park in East Sumatra is trying to save these critically endangered species from disappearing forever,
Sumatran rhinos are the
smallest of all
rhinos. These are the only Asian variety with two horns.
Unlike their counterparts in Africa, they are covered in reddish brown fur called
hairy rhino.
Their woolly covering fades to black or disappears almost entirely over their lifetimes, which span 35 to 40 years.
They had inhabited vast, dense forests of Sumatra, Borneo and Malaysia but land-clearing and poaching have devastated their numbers.
In the year 2015, the species was declared
extinct in the wild in Malaysia.
Species comprised just tiny herds of two to five rhinos scattered across Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo.
36 wild rhinos have been reared at Way Kambas.
Armed rhino protection units patrol the habitat, disabling snares and identifying authorities of intruders and suspicious activity.
Sumatran rhinos are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. They are solitary by nature and often clash upon interaction.
