Javan Rhinoceros - Taxonomy and Naming

Taxonomy and Naming

The first studies of the Javan rhinoceros by naturalists from outside of its region took place in 1787, when two animals were shot in Java. The skulls were sent to the renowned Dutch naturalist Petrus Camper, who died in 1789 before he was able to publish his discovery that the rhinos of Java were a distinct species. Another Javan rhinoceros was shot on the island of Sumatra by Alfred Duvaucel, who sent the specimen to his stepfather Georges Cuvier, the famous French scientist. Cuvier recognized the animal as a distinct species in 1822, and in the same year it was identified by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest as Rhinoceros sondaicus. It was the last species of rhinoceros to be identified. Desmarest initially identified the rhino as being from Sumatra, but later amended this to say his specimen was from Java.

The genus name Rhinoceros, which also includes the Indian rhinoceros, is derived from the ancient Greek words ῥίς (rhis), which means "nose", and κέρας (ceras), which means "horn"; sondaicus is derived from sunda, the biogeographical region that comprises the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and surrounding smaller islands. The Javan rhino is also known as the lesser one-horned rhinoceros (in contrast with the greater one-horned rhinoceros, another name for the Indian rhino).

There are three distinct subspecies, of which only one is still extant:

• Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus, the type subspecies, known as the Indonesian Javan rhinoceros, once lived on Java and Sumatra. The population is now confined to as few as 40 animals in the wild, Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of the island of Java. One researcher has suggested the Javan rhino on Sumatra belonged to a distinct subspecies, R.s. floweri, but this is not widely accepted.
• Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, known as the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros or Vietnamese rhinoceros, once lived across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and into Thailand and Malaysia. The subspecific annamiticus is derived from the Annamite Mountain Range in Southeast Asia, part of this subspecies' range. In 2006, a single population, estimated at fewer than 12 remaining rhinos, lived in an area of lowland forest in the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. Genetic analysis suggested this subspecies and the Indonesian Javan rhinoceros last shared a common ancestor between 300,000 and 2 million years ago. The last individual of this population was shot by a poacher in 2010.
• Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis, known as the Indian Javan rhinoceros, once ranged from Bengal to Burma, but is presumed to have gone extinct before 1925. The term inermis means "unarmed", as the most distinctive characteristic of this subspecies is the small horns in males, and evident lack of horns in females. The original specimen of this species was a hornless female. The political situation in Burma has prevented assessment of the species in that country, but its survival is considered unlikely.