republicart.com

The Javan Rhinoceros (Sunda Rhinoceros to be more precise) or Lesser One horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sonda-icus) is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same genus as the Indian Rhinoceros, and has similar mosaicked skin which resembles armor, but at 3.1–3.2 m (10–10.5 feet) in length and 1.4–1.7 m (4.6–5.8 ft) in height, it is smaller than the Indian Rhinoceros, and is closer in size to the Black Rhinoceros. Its horn is usually less than 25 cm (10 inches), smaller than those of the other rhino species.
Once the most widespread of Asian rhinoceroses, the Javan Rhinoceros ranged from the islands of Indonesia, throughout Southeast Asia, and into India and China. The species is now critically endangered, with only two known populations in the wild, and none in zoos. It is possibly the rarest large mammal on earth. A population of as few as 40 live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java in Indonesia and a small population, estimated in 2007 to be no more than eight, survives in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. The decline of the Javan Rhinoceros is attributed to poaching, primarily for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as $30,000 per kilogram on the black market. Loss of habitat, especially as the result of wars, such as the Vietnam War, in Southeast Asia, has also contributed to the species’s decline and hindered recovery.The remaining range is only within two nationally protected areas, but the rhinos are still at risk from poachers, disease and loss of genetic diversity leading to inbreeding depression. None are held in captivity.
The Javan Rhino can live approximately 30–45 years in the wild. It historically inhabited lowland rain forest, wet grasslands and large floodplains. The Javan Rhino is mostly solitary, except for courtship and child-rearing, though groups may occasionally congregate near wallows and salt licks. Aside from humans, adults have no predators in their range. The Javan Rhino usually avoids humans, but will attack when it feels threatened. Scientists and conservationists rarely study the animals directly due to their extreme rarity and the danger of interfering with such an endangered species. Researchers rely on camera traps and fecal samples to gauge health and behavior. Consequently, the Javan Rhino is the least studied of all rhino species. On February 28, 2011, a video was released by WWF and Indonesia’s National Park Authority which captured two rhinos with their calves. This motion triggered video proved that these animals are still breeding in the wild. There are no Javan Rhinos in captivity.
The first studies of the Javan Rhinoceros by naturalists from outside of its region took place in 1787 when two animals were shot in Java. The skulls were sent to the renowned Dutch naturalist Petrus Camper, who died in 1789 before he was able to publish his discovery that the rhinos of Java were a distinct species. Another Javan Rhinoceros was shot on the island of Sumatra by Alfred Duvaucel who sent the specimen to his stepfather Georges Cuvier, a famous French scientist. Cuvier recognized the animal as a distinct species in 1822, and in the same year it was identified by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest as Rhinoceros sondaicus. It was the last species of rhinoceros to be identified. Desmarest initially identified the rhino as being from Sumatra, but later amended this to say his specimen was from Java.
The genus name Rhinoceros, which also includes the Indian Rhinoceros, is derived from Greek: rhino meaning nose, and ceros meaning horn; sondaicus is derived from sunda, the biogeographical region that comprises islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and surrounding smaller islands. The Javan Rhino is also known as the Lesser One-Horned Rhinoceros (in contrast with the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, another name for the Indian Rhino).
There are three distinct subspecies, of which only two are presumed to be extant:
Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus, the type subspecies, known as the Indonesian Javan Rhinoceros, once lived on Java and Sumatra. The population is now confined to as few as 40 animals in the wild, Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of the island of Java. One researcher has suggested that the Javan Rhino on Sumatra belonged to a distinct subspecies, R.s. floweri, but this is not widely accepted. Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, known as the Vietnamese Javan Rhinoceros or Vietnamese Rhinoceros, once lived across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and into Thailand and Malaysia.
Annamiticus is derived from the Annamite Mountain Range in Southeast Asia, part of this subspecies’s range. A single population, estimated at fewer than 12 remaining rhinos, lives in an area of lowland forest in the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. Genetic analysis suggests that the two extant subspecies last shared a common ancestor between 300,000 and 2 million years ago. Note that locals at Cat Tien National Park regard that the last individual of this population was shot by a poacher in late 2010; if this is correct, the subspecies is now extinct. Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis, known as the Indian Javan Rhinoceros, once ranged from Bengal to Burma, but is presumed to have gone extinct in the first decade of the 20th century. Inermis means unarmed, as the most distinctive characteristic of this sub-species is the small horns in males, and evident lack of horns in females. The original specimen of this species was a hornless female. The political situation in Burma has prevented assessment of the species in that country, but its survival is considered unlikely.
Even the most optimistic estimate suggests there are fewer than 100 Javan Rhinos in the wild. They are considered possibly the most endangered of all large mammals; although there are more Sumatran Rhinos, their range is not as protected as that of the Javan Rhinos, and some conservationists consider them to be at greater risk.[citation needed] The Javan Rhinoceros is only known to survive in two places, the Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java and the Cat Tien National Park about 150 km (90 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City.
The animal was once widespread from Assam and Bengal (where their range would have overlapped with both the Sumatran and Indian Rhino) eastward to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and southwards to the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java and possibly Borneo. The Javan Rhino primarily inhabits dense lowland rain forests, tall grass and reed beds that are plentiful with rivers, large floodplains, or wet areas with many mud wallows. Although it historically preferred low-lying areas, the subspecies in Vietnam has been pushed onto much higher ground (up to 2,000 m or 6,561 ft), probably because of human encroachment and poaching.
The range of the Javan Rhinoceros has been shrinking for at least 3,000 years. Starting around 1000 BC, the northern range of the rhinoceros extended into China, but began moving southward at roughly 0.5 km (0.3 mile) per year, as human settlements increased in the region. It likely became locally extinct in India in the first decade of the 20th century. The Javan Rhino was hunted to extinction on the Malaysian peninsula by 1932. By the end of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Rhinoceros was believed extinct across all of mainland Asia. Local hunters and woodcutters in Cambodia claim to have seen Javan Rhinos in the Cardamom Mountains, but surveys of the area have failed to find any evidence of them. A population may have existed on the island of Borneo as well, though these specimens could have been the Sumatran Rhinoceros, a small population of which still lives there.

Cendrawasih/Raggiana Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea raggiana)Cendrawasih/Raggiana Bird of Paradisefrom: http://www.indonesianfauna.com

Cendrawasih is the Indonesian word for the bird of paradise. The Raggiana bird of paradise (Paradisaea raggiana) is the national bird of New Guinea, and its figure graces everything from money to stamps to taxi cabs. Because they have such rare and beautiful plumage, birds of paradise have been hunted for centuries, and their feathers have been used for decoration and their supposed mystical properties. They are currently listed as endangered and trapping and export are illegal, but all species of the bird of paradise are still being traded illegally on the black market.

Interesting Fact: After trading plumes of birds of paradise with early European explorers, local tribes told them that the birds were the birds of the gods and never touched earth, feeding only on dew. This story accentuated the value of the birds for over 100 years, and the feathers were in such high demand that it almost killed off the species.

The cendrawasih is only found on the island of New Guinea. There are at least 37 other species of the bird of paradise that also make their homes on this island. The males are known to gather in a specific tree together in the morning and will engage in mutual display, where they fluff out their extensive colorful feathers to try and attract a female. They live in the tops of trees and in the underbrush, making nests in tree branches and holes.

Cendrawasih, or Birds of Paradise, are considered by many to be the most beautiful birds on the planet. The females are a relatively drab, dull brown, which helps them take cover when they are nesting and raising the young. They average about 13 inches in length (33 cm), about the size and build of a crow. The males are covered with different sizes and shapes of feathers in every conceivable color, and they often have patches of skin without feathers that are wild, shocking colors as well. The Raggiana has very long, orange, trailing tail feathers. His head and the nape of his neck are yellow, and he has a green chin.

Cendrawasih are primarily fruit eaters, but they will also eat berries, leaves, and small animals, such as lizards and frogs. Their flight is slow and ponderous, contrary to their graceful appearance, and they stay in the same area all year, not following any sort of migratory pattern.

Courtship is the main purpose of the cendrawasih’s gaudy appearance. The females outnumber the males, so the males must compete with each other to win favor of a female when she is ready to mate. The Raggiana especially is known for his overly energetic courtship dance. There are, however, some bird of paradise species that mate for life, and the males have drab brown feathers like the females and will help raise the young and tend the nest. Of the species that are polygamous, however, the female takes care of all nesting and raising duties, usually laying two eggs at a time.