JAKARTA, May 29, 2008--After just a month in operation, specially designed video cameras installed to capture rhinos in the jungles of Indonesia have twice recorded remarkable images of the world's rarest rhino accompanied by a calf.

But the success was not without incident as after a short inspection, the rhino mother charged the camera and sent it flying on one of the occasion in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Javan rhinos occur only in that park and one in Vietnam.

""With fewer than 60 Javan rhinos left in the wild, we believe this footage was well worth the risk to our equipment,"" said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in Ujung Kulon National Park. “It’s very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan rhinos deep inside the rain forest. The motion triggered infrared video traps are a useful way to observe them and the ways they use their habitat in a more detailed way.""

""We are proposing a test translocation of a few Javan rhinos in the near future to establish a new population in a new area. This requires hard data and reliable science and settting up video traps allows us to do that without stop sending researchers to spend the night on rickety bamboo platforms trying to observe these highly endangered rhinos,"" said Adhi. ""Since the video traps don’t have any moving parts and are very silent, they can be placed much closer than humans along the favourite haunts of the Javan rhinos, like salt licks, trails and mud wallows.""

“We are encouraged by the initial results from these video trap, and hope this data will help the park authorities to understand the population dynamics and behaviour of Javan rhinos better and help manage the threats to this population in a more scientific manner”, said Agus Priambudi, Head of Ujung Kulon National Park.

Javan rhinos are found only in two locations in the world with Ujung Kulong NP in Java, Indonesia estimated to have around 60 rhinos -- more than 90 percent of the global population. To prevent the rhino population from going extinct from a sudden catastrophe like a diseases or other natural disasters, the Government of Indonesia recently launched rhino conservation strategy titled “Project Rhino Century (Proyek Abad Badak) in partnership with WWF, International Rhino Foundation (IRF), Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI), dan US Fish and Wildlife Service to create additional Javan rhino populations by translocating a few individuals from Ujung Kulon to another suitable site.

“The use of such cutting edge technologies for studying Javan rhinos should be encouraged more. We believe that the data generated from these video traps in the coming year or so will be of immense help in planning the test translocation of a few Javan rhinos to another suitable habitat and IRF is looking forward to support this effort,” said Susie Ellis of the International Rhino Foundation. “Identification of individual rhinos and insights into their roles in the population will be invaluable in carrying out a successful relocation.”

Adhi Rachmat, the WWF team leader in Ujung Kulon, was happy that the camera attacked by the mother Javan rhino wasn’t damaged badly. “The camera tossed in our footage was relocated by a survey team and put back on its stand next day and hasn’t suffered molestation by a rhino since,” said Adhi. The video trap instalment was done and monitored by a survey team consisting of biologists, including Ujung Kulon park rangers, WWF, and local people. 
 

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Download PDF: Press Release English Version
 
Contact Persons:

1. Agus Priambudi, Head of Ujung Kulon National Park, m +6281341301701, email a_priambudi@yahoo.co.id
2. Adhi Rahmat Hariyadi, Site Manager of WWF-Indonesia in Ujung Kulon National Park, m +62 818134178, email: ahariyadi@wwf.or.id
3. Susie Ellis, PhD, Executive Director, International Rhino Foundation, m 1-540-660-4152, email s.ellis@rhinos-irf.org

NOTES for EDITORS:

• Footage from the Javan rhino video trap and still photos from the footage can be downloaded from the WWF Press Room drop box at https://intranet.panda.org/documents/folder.cfm?uFolderID=61441
• The log-in is: intranet@wwfint.org  and the password is: dropbox For the highest quality image choose the large MPG file which can take some time to download, while there is a shorter Flash version for quick viewing. A related article will appear on www.panda.org at embargo time.
•  Javan rhinos are the rarest of the world’s five rhino species and are critically endangered. It is estimated that not more than 60 individuals live in Ujung Kulon. WWF has identified about 37 individuals in Ujung Kulon through camera trapping, a critical part of WWF research of these rhinos.
• The video camera trap that made this glimpse of rhinos in the wild possible was designed by PixController Inc.