Javan Rhinoceros

The Javan rhinoceros, also called the Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is a critically endangered member of the rhinoceros family and among the rarest large mammals on Earth, with only one known wild population remaining, in Ujung Kulon National Park at the western tip of Java, Indonesia, and no individuals successfully held in captivity. It is one of the smallest rhinoceros species, with a body length of roughly 3.1 to 3.2 metres, plated skin with protective folds, and a single horn usually shorter than 25 centimetres. Its population, once ranging across mainland Southeast Asia, India and southern China, was driven to near-extinction primarily by poaching for its horn, prized in traditional Chinese medicine, and by habitat loss and colonial-era trophy hunting, leaving an estimated population of around 74 individuals confined to Ujung Kulon and closely monitored through camera traps and fecal samples rather than direct observation, given the danger of disturbing such a critically endangered animal.