The Javan rhinoceros is one of 5 extant rhino species within the Rhinocerotidae family and has 3 recognized subspecies, though 2 are now extinct.
The Javan rhinoceros is one of the five remaining rhino species within the Rhinocerotidae family. Other extant rhinoceros species include the Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), and White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum).
There are three recognized subspecies of the Javan rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus, Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, and Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis.
The subspecies Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis formerly occurred in northeastern India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, but is now extinct.
The subspecies Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus formerly occurred in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and eastern Thailand. Its final population lived in and around the Cat Loc part (Dong Nai province) of the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam until it was officially declared extinct in 2011.
The subspecies Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus formerly occurred from Thailand through Malaysia, to the islands of Java and Sumatra, Indonesia. The only remaining population occurs on the Ujung Kulon Peninsula, which forms the westernmost extremity of the island of Java. The Javan population of this subspecies has been restricted to this area since around the 1930s.
• Image | © H. Schlegel, Public Domain
• Sources | (Hoogerwerf, 1970; IRF, 2011; Nowak, 1999; van Strien, et al., 2008; Waters, 2000; WWF, 2015)
