Although the Javan rhinoceros used to roam across a vast portion of Asia, it can now only be found in west Java, Indonesia.
The Javan rhinoceros historically roamed across a vast swathe of Asia from north-eastern India through Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. It probably lived in southern China, as well.
The species’ precise historical range is indeterminate, as early accounts failed to distinguish rhinos to specific level, due to partial sympatry with the other two Asian rhino species, the Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) and Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).
Over the past 150 years, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Javan rhino was extirpated from most of its historical range and its range and population shrank dramatically.
Now, there is just one population in a single national park in the Ujung Kulon peninsula on the Indonesian island of Java.
• Image | © The-Dreaming-Dragon, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
• Sources | (Grubb, 2005; IRF, 2011; van Strien, et al., 2008; Waters, 2000; WWF, 2015)
