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In a tranquil forest on the westernmost tip of Java, the sound of lapping water in a moss-green river is accompanied by an occasional breeze whispering through the foliage of nipa palms as kaleidoscopic butterflies flit across the riverbed.

Further down the river, past overhanging branches on which pythons slither and civets spring, across boggy terrain and two coral-bedded creeks, is a mud hole frequented by Javan rhinos. Measuring about 20 square meters, the mud wallow is a resting place for these rare mammals in Ujung Kulon National Park.

The Javan rhino was listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1996 and is now the rarest rhino in the world. Once found throughout much of Asia, the main population of Javan rhinos now live deep in the forests of the national park. Seven Javan rhinos occupy the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

About 60 Javan rhinos — representing nearly 90 percent of the global population — inhabit Ujung Kulon’s 120,551 hectares of forest.

The World Wide Fund for Nature, in collaboration with Ujung Kulon, has worked actively since the 1960s to protect the rhino s.

At one point before the 1960s, there were just about 20 Javan rhinos left in the park, mostly because of illegal poaching. WWF’s efforts helped increase the number to 50 in the 1990s and the figures have since remained steady. But much work lies ahead.

WWF and the park have been working on increasing the awareness and participation of the Ujung Kulon community in their conservation efforts since 2000.

They have also proposed that some of the rhinos be relocated; they fear a natural disaster or epidemic in the park could mean extinction of the species.

Understanding the rhinos’ behavioral patterns through monitoring and video footage are vital to the species’ survival.

The rhinos were first captured on film in the park for study in January, when 30 video-camera traps were installed, funded by the International Rhino Foundation and Asian Rhino Program.

“The video cameras provide us with a window into the psychology of the rhino,” said WWF’s Adhi Rahmat Hariyadi, the project leader. “With detailed observation, we can even study their breathing patterns — how fast or how slow they’re breathing, whether they are awake or asleep, which is indicative of their health.”

The motion-triggered infrared video and still-camera traps are placed in strategic areas with the highest rhino traffic, such as the mud holes where they drink and bathe.

Four field survey teams comprised of WWF members, park rangers, biologists and local residents spend a fortnight each month in the forest monitoring the rhinos and recording their feeding, distribution and wallowing behavioral patterns.

The teams’ identification process is painstakingly detailed, using specific parameters, including the shape and size of a rhino’s single horn, its eyelid shape, facial lines, ear shape, shoulder width, neck folds, scars and color.

Ridwan "Iwan Podol" Setyawan, WWF’s rhino monitoring officer, supervises the survey teams. Collecting the animals’ droppings is also Iwan’s job. The animals’ waste is studied for DNA to determine any ill effects of inbreeding, as well as to map the rhino’s distribution patterns.

The animals are counted manually every year in December, with 15 teams sent out to sweep the area for spoor.

“We count the tracks we find and determine the width, direction and age of the tracks, and then we compile the data,” Iwan said.

From the survey conducted last year, the camera traps recorded 42 rhinos, while the manual count totalled 60.

Though illegal poaching has decreased dramatically since the ’80s, the animals are still beset by health threats, such as anthrax, which they are prone to contracting from domestic cows and buffaloes, Iwan said.

But the biggest threat to the survival of the rhinos in Ujung Kulon, according to Iwan, is the gender ratio: There are three males to every two females, and rhinos only mate once a year. They have a gestation period of approximately 16 months.

According to WWF, a female rhino can give birth every two to three years. Recent video footage has revealed that there were four pairs of mother and calf in the park, Adhi said, a sign that the species’ population was stabilizing.

Competition for food and space is also a problem for the Javan rhinos, as banteng, which are forest oxen, invade their habitat.

The feeding grounds of the banteng, who are grazers, are being depleted. As a result, they are venturing into the forest and have become herbivorous browsers, just like the rhinos, with a diet of twigs, shoots and bark.

In order to mitigate this problem, WWF has been working since 2008 to rehabilitate and restore the grazing grounds in Cigenter and Cidaun Island, which are within the national park.

Reports have been positive, according to the rhino fundraising coordinator for the project, Adji Santoso. The number of banteng, also endangered, have doubled in Cidaun from 15 to 30 in the past year, he said.

Monitoring rhinos is not without risks. Field workers regularly contract malaria and face the dangers of the forest during their two-week surveillance period each month.

Adji, now based in Jakarta, fell into a three-week coma after contracting malaria a few years ago.

But Iwan, like many working in rhino conservation, said that the risks were taken for the greater good. He has worked with WWF to conserve rhinos for almost a decade and takes much pride in his work.

“The most important thing we do is provide accurate information to the world about the rhinos,” Iwan said.

Working alongside WWF and the Ujung Kulon National Park staff are 28 locals. Local community participation is an important aspect of the conservation strategy.

“How can the locals understand how important saving the rhinos is if they’re not involved?” Iwan said. “The locals will be here for generations. I may leave, but they’ll still be here.”

Sumardi and Ihom are both farmers from the nearby Ujung Jaya village. Thirty-year-old Sumardi, who has been working with the WWF as a rhino tracker for the last 10 years, said the draw of his line of work was the income.

“This pays better than farming,” he said. “It helps me put food on the table for my wife and kids.”

Since they only work at the park 10 to 15 days a month, locals employed by WWF receive an average of Rp 400,000 ($39) per month as honorarium.

“The local community is dependent on the national park for its livelihood,” said Hartoyo Stefanus, the park’s forest safety officer. “They need to survive, so they go into the forest and find what they can to sell. We haven’t been able to stop them from doing so.”

Ihom, who has been a tracker with the organization for two years, said, “We can work in factories but it is better at WWF because we can protect the environment and rhinos at the same time.”

Embracing the community over the last nine years has yielded positive results. Hartoyo said that more locals were beginning to report the presence of illegal activity around the area.

“This is a good sign. They are beginning to care about their environment,” Hartoyo said.

Adji, who worked in the project’s community development sector for five years before becoming the monitoring officer, is well acquainted with the residents of the area.

“WWF aimed to build a foundation for the local community to reduce the disturbance on the rhinos here,” Adji said. “Because the forest has been their livelihood for a long time, we are providing them with alternative ways to earn a living.”

The organization is attempting to steer the locals toward ecotourism, training them as area guides and teaching them to make rhino handicrafts.

It is also helping locals improve the accommodation and food services they provide to visitors.

Adji said progress was slow because of poor infrastructure, particularly the worn-out roads leading to Ujung Kulon.

In 2002, WWF began working with local communities in Ujung Kulon on an artisan project in which youths learned to carve and decorate wooden rhinos.

The project is still running and some of the youths are sent to Yogyakarta for a month to learn batik techniques. Others are sent to Bali to learn woodcarving.

“We definitely feel the positive impact of working with the WWF. Now we have these skills,” said 28-year-old Rahmat, who was previously unemployed, like many youths in his village of Citangkil.

By selling the batik rhinos he creates, Rahmat can earn an average gross income of Rp 500,000 to Rp 1 million per month.

He hopes to convince other out-of-school youths to participate in the group and he teaches them how to make his wooden batik rhinos.

Ihom said: “In the end, we are the people of Ujung Kulon and the rhino is the world’s heritage. We have to guard and take care of them.”

WWF Rhino Care Program
Tel: 021 576 1070
www.rhinocare.info
rhinocare@wwf.or.id