Western Sumatran Rhinoceros

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iWestern Sumatran Rhinoceros

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	Dicerorhinus
Species:	D. sumatrensis
Subspecies:	D. s. sumatrensis

Trinomial name

Dicerorhinus sumatrensis sumatrensis
Fischer, 1814

The Western Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis sumatrensis) is a subspecies of the Sumatran Rhinoceros. Once more widespread it now lives most commonly on the island of Sumatra They are threatend by poaching and habitat loss and with fewer of 300 creatures surviving are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN red list.

1 Description
2 Ecology and Behavior
3 Reproduction
4 Population and Threats
5 References
6 External Links

[edit] Description

The Western Sumatran Rhinoceros has hair that can be scarce or dense (It is most dense in young calves) and a reddish brown color. They are very stocky and have two deep skin folds that encricle their body, one behind the front legs and one in front of the back legs. Their weight can get as large as 1000 kg, a height of 1-1.5 meters and a length of 2-3 m. Difference between the eastern, Borneo subspecies of Sumatran Rhinoceros is only divergence in gentic background.

[edit] Ecology and Behavior

They are solitary creatures and the males have a home range around 30 square kilometers which overlaps female rhinos. Marking their territory is done through bent saplings, scrappings and excrements Coming out at dusk and in early morning to eat they wallow in mud baths during the day to cool down. Salt licks are essential to obtain minerals. The Western Sumatran Rhinoceros lives in lowland secondary rainforest, swamps, and mountain moss forests. Due to humans they have been concentrated to higher altitudes.

[edit] Reproduction

Females become sexually mature at 4-6 years of age and males 7-8 years of age. The females will become sexually active when a male is near by. Their gestation period is around 400 days and give birth to a single calve during the wet season (May-October). The calves are weaned at 16-18 months. This rhinos birth interval is around 3-4 years.

[edit] Population and Threats

Once was more widespread. But now they are now found only on the island of Sumatra (the majority live here) and the Peninsula Malaysia. A few indivuals may survive in Thailand. The population of the Western Sumatran Rhinoceros has been reduced to 300 creatures and are listed as critically endangered. Threats against them is the illegal poaching for their horn and for sport. Also habitat loss is another contributing factor. Hopefully their numbers can rise.