Perhaps the most endangered mammal on Earth, scientists estimate that fewer than 60 Javan rhinos live in the wild today. Thought to survive in only in the Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java, Javan rhinos once ranged widely through India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Javan rhino was declared extinct in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam in October 2011, after the last individual was found shot by poachers. Historically Javan rhinos have shown preference for low-lying areas, inhabiting dense lowland rain forests, tall grass and reed beds abundant with wide floodplains, rivers or wet areas dotted with mud wallows.
During the Vietnam War, the defoliant Agent Orange destroyed much of the Javan rhino's forest habitat. Agricultural conversion contributed to additional habitat loss, though it is no longer a significant factor as the rhino now occupies only protected territory. These losses, as well poaching for its horn, have nearly wiped out the rhino. The horns have been trafficked in China for more than two millennia, where they are valued in traditional medicine for reported healing powers. According to surveys of the black market for rhino horn, Asian horns command a price up to $30,000 per kilogram.
