 Reference Base  Rhinoceros sondaicus: the Javan or lesser one-horned rhin... |
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Loch, C.W., 1937. Rhinoceros sondaicus: the Javan or lesser one-horned rhinoceros and its geographical distribution. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 15 (2): 130-149, pls. 3-4, table 1
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| Location: |
Asia - South East Asia - Indonesia - Sumatra |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Asian Rhino Species |
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The occurrence of the Javan rhinoceros in the island of Sumatra, was first noted by Desmarest in 1822. Up till lately it was doubted that the animal was indigenous, a suspicion now proved to be ill-founded.
De Beaufort, 1928, gives an account of a complete specimen presented to the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam. This was procured by a Mr. Keith, 250 kilometers southwest of Palembang in Sumatra. The same writer, in summarising notes on the range of the species, mentions that according to P. Vageler, a big-game hunter, one J. C. Hazewinkel, killed in Sumatra, no less than seven. These were at first supposed to be a new variety, but proved in fact to be identical with the javan rhinoceros.
In the ?Illustrated London News' of Dec. 23, 1933 is a most interesting account by Mynheer Hazewinkel himself, of the shooting of a big bull sondaicus; the first he says of seven shot by him. These animals are now of course closely protected. Hazewinkel states that the Chinese would gladly pay up to Fl. 1,500 for a skin of sondaicus and.a horn might fetch up to 4,000 guilders -nearly ?500. The two-horned R. sumatrensis not being so valuable would fetch only one-tenth of the above prices. The species still occurs in some localities in South Sumatra in Palembang, but is very rare there.
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