SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS

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The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It is the only extant species of the genus Dicerorhinus. It is the smallest rhinoceros, although it is still a large mammal.Members of the species once inhabited rainforests, swamps, and cloud forests in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. In historical times, they lived in southwest China, particularly in Sichuan.They are now critically endangered, with only six substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and one in the Malay Peninsula. Their numbers are difficult to determine because they are solitary animals that are widely scattered across their range, but they are estimated to number fewer than 100. Survival of the Peninsular Malaysia population is in doubt, and one of the Sumatran populations may already be extinct. Total numbers today may be as low as 80^. The decline in the number of Sumatran rhinoceroses is attributed primarily to poaching for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as US$50,000 per kg on the black market.Many parts of its body are believed to have aphrodisiac and medicinal properties, but its distinctive horn is most in demand, and ends up either a powdered ingredient in medicines, or artistically carved . The populations of the Sumatran rhinoceros are now so small that breeding has become a rare activity and successful births are infrequent; as a result, inbreeding depression has become a real and serious risk. The small numbers mean that even the death of a single animal brings the species a step closer to extinction. This is one of the animals that are on the verge of extinction.