Vietnamese Javan Rhinoceros

Subspecies believed extinct rediscovered in 1988

The supposedly extinct subspecies of the Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus), the Annamite Javan rhinoceros or Annamite rhinoceros, was not rediscovered until 1988. At first, it was assumed that the rhinoceros subspecies, which once inhabited a large part of Southeast Asia, had become extinct as a consequence of the Vietnam War.

In 1988, scientists discovered a small population of at most 10 to 15 animals. Despite conservation efforts, the subspecies became extinct in 2009 when poachers shot the last Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros.

Most recently, the subspecies was found only in Cat Loc in Dong Nai Province, in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. Previously, the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros also lived in Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia, in eastern Thailand and in southern China. The name of this subspecies—Annamite Javan rhinoceros or Annamite rhinoceros—comes from the Annamite name of the Truong Son Mountains or the Annamite Range in Southeast Asia. This mountain chain was part of the species’ range.

Javan rhinoceroses have only one horn and, with their skin folds, resemble the Asian greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). The Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros was much smaller than its relatives native to the Indonesian island of Java. The animals reached a shoulder height of 110 to 130 centimeters and weighed around 800 kilograms.

Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros – fact sheet

alternative names	Vietnamese rhinoceros, Javanese Javan rhinoceros,
scientific names	Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticu
original range	Vietnam (previously also southern China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia)
time of extinction	2009
causes of extinction	poaching, habitat loss

22 dung samples from the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros discovered

Scientists initially drew hope when they discovered 22 dung samples from the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros in Cat Tien National Park between 2009 and 2010. But genetic analyses showed that all the samples came from the same animal, namely the one poachers had killed in 2009. When the skeleton of the last rhinoceros was found, experts discovered a bullet in the animal’s leg and the horn had been cut off—presumably to sell it on the black market.

To this day, threatened wild animals in Vietnam and other countries in Asia and Africa are illegally hunted, kept and killed so that parts of them can be sold on the black market as traditional remedies with supposedly miraculous medical effects. In rhinoceroses, the horns are ground up; the horn powder is said to help against all kinds of illnesses, such as cancer, and to have a detoxifying effect, for example after a night of heavy drinking.

The kouprey, once native to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, was hunted among other reasons for its long horns, which were said to have miraculous medicinal powers. The wild cattle species probably became extinct in the early 1980s.

Last but not least, rhinoceros horn is consumed for social reasons, according to a study commissioned by WWF and the wildlife trade monitoring program TRAFFIC. Celebrities, businesspeople and high-ranking officials in particular buy rhinoceros horn to reflect their social status. Yet numerous scientific studies have long since proven that the rhinoceros horn consists only of keratin and has no medical benefit. Keratin is the substance our toenails and fingernails are made of.

Poaching was not the only thing that wiped out the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros

Poaching certainly contributed greatly to the extinction of the Javan rhinoceros subspecies, but experts are certain that large-scale habitat loss also played a role.

During the Vietnam War between 1955 and 1975, around 3.3 million hectares of forest and 24,000 square kilometers of Vietnam’s land area were permanently poisoned and destroyed by dioxin-containing herbicides (weed killers) and land mines. In addition, 3,000 square kilometers of South Vietnam were leveled by bulldozers during the war. All this, along with the advance of agriculture, caused immense environmental damage and reduced the habitat of many animal species.

In addition, the range of the rhinoceros population within Vietnam was limited to just 6,500 hectares because of a heavily used motorcycle road that connected settlements within the national park. Furthermore, the country still lacks public awareness, more rangers with better training and more monitoring in order to take action against poaching.

Of the three recent subspecies of the Javan rhinoceros, two are already extinct: the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros and the Indian Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis). Of the third subspecies, Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus, which today occurs only in Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java, an estimated 40 to 50 individuals still exist. Another rhinoceros that has gone extinct in Asia is probably the subspecies northern Sumatran rhinoceros.

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