Sumatran rhinoceros - Population & Distribution

Reduced to a fraction of its former range

Previous Population and Distribution
The Sumatran rhino once occurred widely from the foothills of the Himalayas in Bhutan and eastern India, through Myanmar, Thailand, possibly to Vietnam and China, and south through the Malay Peninsula, to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Current Population and Distribution
The species is found now in small populations scattered through its former range; it is known to persist in peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Sabah in Borneo. Its status in other parts of the region (Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and the states of Kalimantan and Sarawak in Borneo) is unknown. Their numbers are thought to have at least halved between 1985 and 1995, with the total number of individuals now estimated at fewer than 300.

Potentially most endangered rhino
The Sumatran rhino competes with the Javan rhino as being the most endangered rhino species. While surviving in greater numbers than the Javan rhino, Sumatran rhinos are more threatened by poaching. There is no indication that the population is stabilizing and just one captive female has reproduced in the last 15 years.

In November 1996, the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Asian Rhino Specialist Group (AsRSG) held a PVA (Population Viability Analysis) which recognized that without increased protection, the Sumatran rhino could become extinct in Malaysia by the year 2020.

Most viable populations in Indonesia
The largest and possibly most viable populations of Sumatran rhinos now exist in Sumatra. They are mainly confined to Gunung Leuser, Kerinci-Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Parks. Recent evidence suggests that perhaps a few survive in Thailand along the border with Malaysia, in northern Myanmar, and possibly in India along the border with Myanmar (D.s. lasiotis subspecies), but this has not been confirmed.

In Borneo, the species is now possibly extinct in Sarawak (Malaysia) and Kalimantan (Indonesia), with perhaps fewer than 25 surviving in Sabah (Malaysia).