| Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Rhinocerotidae |
| Genus: | Dicerorhinus |
| Species: | D. sumatrensis |
| Subspecies: | D. s. harrissoni |
| Trinomial name | |
| Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni (Harrisson, 1951) |
|
The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni) is a critically endangered subspecies of Sumatran Rhinoceros. The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros once ranged throughout the Indonesian and Malaysian islands of Borneo and Sabah, but now only is known to exist in secluded mountain ranges on the island of Sabah. The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros has only about thirty extant individuals remaining. Illegal poaching has contributed to their demise, as the rhino's horn is worth $30,000 a kilogram on the black market.
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The first documented Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros was described by anthropologist Tom Harrisson in 1951, during on a research trip to Borneo. Previously, the rhino had been popular with hunters since the 1860's. When the Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros was first described, it was already listed as an endangered species and its distribution had been rapidly declining since the early 1900's. It was discovered while Tom Harrison was in a cloud forest in Borneo while searching for undiscovered species.
It was named the Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros because its range once covered parts of eastern Sumatra. As a subspecies discovered in East Asia, it had a different appearance from other subspecies of Sumatran Rhinoceros, such as D. s. sumatrensis and D. s. lasiotis.
The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros is the smallest of the three Sumatran Rhinoceros subspecies, which include the Western Sumatran Rhinoceros and the Northern Sumatran Rhinoceros. The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros also had the smallest horn of any rhino species, which averaged about 70 centimeters, but their black market price, at 6 times more than African rhinoceros horns, meant that hunting continued. The Eastern Sumatran subspecies also had short hairs on its body only visible at close range.
The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros once lived in the cloud forests spanning three Indonesian islands, but its range is now limited to a mountainous environment because their former former has been ravaged by illegal logging and farming on the land.
Since 2000, there have been very few reports of the Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros breeding due to the fact that there are few remaining members of the subspecies. There are only about 50 Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceroses. It is now becoming more rare for mating to occur. No instances of new Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceroses being born have ever been recorded on film or photographed, but some signs of breeding still remain.
By 2006 there were only about 30 Eastern Sumatran Rhino individuals left in the wild, with three in captivity at the Sumatran Rhino Breeding Center in Sabah, Malaysia.[1] Since the Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros roam throughout unprotected mountain ranges in Sabah, they are suceptible to poachers. The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros has been a protected species since the 1970's but have still been poached severely ever since. Since their protection, poaching increased due to it being more difficult to get a rhinoceros horn. The Eastern Sumatran Rhinoceros became extirpated in Borneo in the 1990's when the last one was killed in a national park.