A CENSUS of footprints has revealed that Vietnam hosts a subspecies of rhinoceros that was once thought to be extinct.
The animals are Javan rhinos, but a different subspecies from the only other surviving population, in Java's Ujung Kulon National Park. The census suggests that the Vietnamese population is down to just five animals. "They can only survive for two or three years unless action is taken," says Nico van Strien, a Dutch zoologist who works for the International Rhinoceros Foundation, which organised the census.
The Javan rhino, an elusive animal that lives in dense forest, was once widespread across Southeast Asia. Between 50 and 60 animals survive in Ujung Kulon. But the Javan rhino was thought to be extinct on the Asian mainland until 1990, when rhinos were spotted along the Dong Nai River in the central highlands of Vietnam. At that time there were thought to be up ...
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