ORDER PERISSODACTYLA : ODD-TOED UNGULATES 381 



Javan Rhinoceros ; Smaller One-horned Rhinoceros. 

 Rhinoceros de la Sonde (Fr.) 



RHINOCEROS SONDAICUS Desmarest 



Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest, Mammalogie, pt. 2, p. 399, 1822. ("Sumatra.") 

 FIGS.: Temminck, Natuurl. Geschiedenis Nederl. overz. bezittingen, Zool., 

 Mammalia, pi. 33, 1839-44; Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1874, pi. 28; Trans. 

 Zool. Soc. London, vol. 9, pi. 96, 1876; Blanford, 1891, p. 475, fig. 155; 

 Lydekker, 1900, pi. 1, fig. 3; Kloss, 1927, pi. 5; Dammerman, 1929, p. 25, 

 fig. 6; Barbour and Allen. 1932, pi. 11; Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 

 vol. 37, no. 1, suppl, pi. 32, 1934; Ward, 1935, p. 338, upper fig.; Loch, 1937, 

 pis. 3, 4. 



This is one of the rarest and most famous of the large mammals 

 now facing extinction. The last survivors linger in a few localities 

 in southeastern Asia and the Malay Archipelago. 



It is somewhat smaller than R. unicornis; color dusky gray 

 throughout; fold of skin in front of the shoulder, like that behind 

 the shoulder and that in front of the thighs, continuous across the 

 back; skin divided by cracks into small, polygonal, scalelike disks; 

 ears with a short hairy fringe ; tail hairy below and at tip ; single horn 

 of the male reaching a length of a little more than 10 inches; horn 

 generally absent in the female. Height of male at shoulder, 5 feet 

 10 inches; of female, 5 feet 6 inches. (Blanford, 1891, p. 475; Ly- 

 dekker, 1900, pp. 25-26.) 



The range formerly extended from Bengal, Assam, Burma, Siam, 

 and Indo-China through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Java 

 (cj. Loch, 1937, map facing p. 130) . 



India and Burma. In the past the species was distributed in 

 the Sundarbans and other parts of eastern Bengal, and through 

 Assam and Burma. It is mentioned as having been once abundant 

 in the forests along the larger rivers of Tenasserim. At present it 

 is practically exterminated from India proper. A few may survive 

 in the North Lushai Hills and in Manipur. It is doubtful if more 

 than half a dozen animals survive in Burma. It is completely 

 protected by law in Burma. Every part of the animal, including the 

 blood and the entrails, is in demand. (Bombay Natural History 

 Society, in Hit., December, 1936.) 



Shebbeare writes (1935) of its former occurrence along the Torsa 

 River, Bengal: 'The Lesser Indian rhinoceros (R. sondaicus) in- 

 habited these jungles until at least as recently as 30 years ago, when 

 one was shot by a forest officer." This was "one of the last, if not 

 the last, of its race in this locality." 



"There have been rumors of the former existence of R. sondaicus 

 in the forests of Orissa and about the delta of the Mahanadi River, 

 in the Bay of Bengal. This has been discredited by some authorities 



