Erittäin uhanalainen Indonesian jaavansarvikuono vasikoineen taltioitiin videolle ensimmäistä kertaa
Indonesiassa on taltioitu dramaattista videomateriaalia kahdesta erittäin uhanalaisesta Indonesian jaavansarvikuonosta vasikoineen. Sarvikuonoja on koko maailmassa jäljellä vain noin 40 yksilöä, ja sitä uhkaavat edelleen salametsästys, sairaudet ja luonnon mullistukset. Videot on julkistanut WWF-Indonesia ja Indonesian National Park Authority.
Ensimmäisessä marraskuussa 2010 taltioidussa videossa emo ja urosvasikka kävelevät suoraan videokameraa kohti syöden lehtiä. Eräässä kohdassa vasikka kääntyy poispäin kamerasta, heiluttelee häntäänsä ja hätistelee pois kärpästä. Toinen, 30-sekuntinen sarvikuonovideo, taltioitiin joulukuussa ja siinä isompi, noin yksivuotias naarasvasikka kulkee yhdessä emonsa kanssa.
Indonesian jaavansarvikuono on mahdollisesti maailman harvinaisin nisäkäs. Laji, joka oli aiemmin runsaslukuinen koko Kaakkois-Aasiassa, elää nyt eristyksissä Ujung Kulonin kansallispuistossa Indonesiasta. Kannan pienen koon takia sarvikuonolaji on erittäin haavoittuva. Sarvikuonoa on salametsästetty muun muassa siksi, että sarvilla uskotaan olevan lääkinnällisiä vaikutuksia.
Videot internetissä:
Jaavansarvikuono ja urosvasikka:
Jaavansarvikuono ja naarasvasikka:
- Jaavansarvikuono ja urosvasikka:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Gi0Pm0ThU
- Jaavansarvikuono ja naarasvasikka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6fJJ1LmygA
- Kuvaajatiedot merkittävä muotoon: WWF-Indonesia/Balai Tnuk
***Lue koko tiedote englanniksi
Critically Endangered Javan Rhinos and Calves Captured on Video
With as Few as 40 Left on Earth, WWF Launches Campaign to Save One of the World’s
Rarest Mammals
Dramatic new video footage of two critically endangered Javan rhinos and their calves was released today by WWF-Indonesia and Indonesia’s National Park Authority.
The footage, from a motion-activated video camera in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, is a huge boost to efforts to save this almost extinct species that is threatened by poaching, disease, and the possibility of a tsunami or volcanic eruption.
“The videos are great news for Javan rhinos and prove that they are breeding in Ujung Kulon,” said Dr. Eric Dinerstein, chief scientist at WWF-US. He warned, however, that the survival of the species is still far from certain. “There are no Javan rhinos in captivity—if we lose the population in the wild, we’ve lost them all,” Dinerstein said, pointing out that an eruption by nearby volcano Anak Krakatau could easily wipe out all life on the peninsula where the rhinos are concentrated.
The Javan rhino is possibly the rarest mammal on the planet with as few as 40 left. Once numerous throughout Southeast Asia, its population is now likely isolated to Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia. This small population size makes it extremely vulnerable to any threat, including poaching for its horn, which is traditionally believed to have medicinal properties.
The video trap, installed by WWF-Indonesia and Ujung Kulon National Park Authority, captured images of the rhinos and their calves between November and December of last year in the dense tropical rainforests of Ujung Kulon National Park on the island of Java. WWF is working with Ujung Kulon National Park authorities, International Rhino Foundation, Indonesia Rhino Foundation, Asian Rhino Project, IUCN/SSC Rhino Specialist Group and local communities to protect this species from poaching, monitor the remaining rhinos, and establish a new population by relocating several individuals.
“Fifty years of conservation experience has taught us that saving Javan rhinos is possible through population management and proper protection,” said Dr. Barney Long, head of Asian species conservation at WWF-US. “We’ve done it before – helping rhino populations rebound in Africa and South Asia – and we can do it again in Indonesia.”
Dinerstein added, “The recovery of the white rhino in South Africa is the most successful example of international wildlife conservation for a highly endangered species. With less than 50 left in a single reserve in 1900, there are currently around 20,000 alive in nine countries. Examples like this give us hope that in 10 or 20 years through translocation and proper protection we can begin to witness a Javan rhino rebound.”
WWF has established an emergency fund to support the establishment of a Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area into which a handful of rhinos will be moved. Visitors to www.javanrhinohope.org can learn more about the species and donate directly to a fund that will establish the conservation area and monitor the several individual rhinos that will populate it later this year. Establishing a new population is an essential buffer against a potential tsunami and an outbreak of disease and/or poaching.
The first video, recorded in November, shows a mother and male calf walking steadily towards the video trap, munching leaves. At one point the calf turns away from the camera and wags its tail to swat a fly. The second family made its video debut in December in a 30-second video that shows a larger female calf, approximately one year old, walking with her mother.
“It’s such a joy to see these healthy calves calmly ambling through the dense tropical forest,” Long said. “It gives me hope for the future of the species and it’s moments like these that make all of the hard work of Indonesia’s dedicated field staff worthwhile.”
Watch the videos of the Javan rhinos with male calf here and female calf here. Additional photos and video of Javan rhinos and other species captured on camera and video traps available upon request.
For more information, please contact:
- Agus Priambudi, Head of Ujung Kulon National Park Authority agus_priambudi@yahoo.co.id, (+62) 253 801 731
- Adhi Hariyadi, Project Leader Program Ujung Kulon, ahariyadi@wwf.or.id, (+62) 253 805 069
- Lee Poston, WWF-US, (202) 299 6442, lee.poston@wwfus.org
- Desmarita Murni, WWF-Indonesia, +62 21 5761070 ext 509, dmurni@wwf.or.id