Rare Javan rhino found dead in Cat Tien National Park

(ĐN)- A Javan rhino, weighing an estimated 1,000 kilograms, was found dead in Cat Tien National Park in the central highlands province of Lam Dong, according to the report from Director of the National Park.

(ĐN)- A Javan rhino, weighing an estimated 1,000 kilograms, was found dead in Cat Tien National Park in the central highlands province of Lam Dong, according to the report from Director of the National Park.

A Javan rhino photographed in 2005 in Cat Tien National Park

On April 29, local people reported finding the body of a large mammal to National Park authorities. A forest ranger team was immediately deployed to the site where they confirmed the dead animal was a Javan rhino.

WWF will send samples taken from the dead rhino to Queen’s University in Canada for analysis to see if the DNA of the dead rhino matches any of the dung samples taken during the population status surveys.

Javan rhino skull found in Cat Tien National Park

In November 2009, WWF experts coordinated with Vietnamese rangers to use highly-trained sniffed dogs from the US to locate rhino dung. These dung samples will undergo DNA analysis to determine the exact population status of the species.

It is now uncertain how many, if any, Javan rhinos are left in Vietnam . However, experts forecast that about 10 are possibly living in forests in Vietnam’s southern region.

Vietnam ’s Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) are one of only two populations of the species left on earth.

Reported by P.V