What it is
The Javan rhinoceros is a one-horned Asian rhino, smaller than the greater one-horned rhino of India and Nepal. IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered. Every remaining animal lives in Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java. The International Rhino Foundation’s 2025 compilation put the total near 50, down from about 76, after an organised poaching ring took up to 26 animals between 2019 and 2023. Older “70-80” figures predate that loss.
Range
Ujung Kulon only. The species once ranged through much of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, where the last mainland animal was poached in 2010.
What happened
A single park means a single flood, disease, or volcano can finish the species. Camera traps and dung DNA are how Indonesia counts them. There is no second wild population to fall back on.
When / status
Critically Endangered now. One landscape, tens of animals.
Human role
Historical hunting shrank the map; recent poaching inside the last park cut the count again.
Sources
IUCN Red List (Rhinoceros sondaicus, CR); IRF State of the Rhino 2025; Save the Rhino population page.