The trails are well defined and are kept open by the regular passage of the larger animals, especially rhinos and elephants. Tracks and trails: Sumatran rhinos tend to use a network of game trails that occur along all the major ridges and rivers.Foot glands, which are present in the Javan rhino, are most likely absent in the Sumatran rhino This probably serves to mark the feet and surrounding tracks with the scent of the faeces. After defecating, Sumatran rhinos scratch their hind feet in the dung and kick it around in the bushes. However, when a Sumatran rhino meets a heap of dung, it usually deposits a fresh pile nearby. Dung heaps, or ‘middens’, also serve as a communication point, though the large latrines common in territories of the Greater one-horned rhino do not occur, probably because of the much lower natural density of these animals. Communicating and sounds: the Sumatran rhino is surprisingly vocal and communicates with many different sounds, mostly whistling or whining noises.Female territory: females have much smaller ranges (around 10-15 km 2), and appear to be quite well spaced but will sometimes overlap with male territories.There is no indication that these territories are actually defended by territorial fights as happens in other rhino species, but they are marked along the main trails by urine, faeces, scrapes and twisted saplings Male territory: males have large territories (can range up to 50 km 2), which overlap with other males’ territories.Sociability: Sumatran rhinos are usually solitary, except for females with small calves, and during a short period of courtship around the time a female is in oestrous.They are primarily attracted to areas with plentiful food resources, such as shrubs, fruits, shoots, leaves and roots Sumatran rhinos are well adapted to life in very dense tropical forests. Habitat: the Sumatran rhino lives in dense tropical forest, in both the lowlands and highlands.Location: once found across parts of Southeast Asia, including the foothills of Bhutan and northeast India, southern China, Cambodia and Thailand, they are now restricted to just a few sites in Sumatra and Borneo, in Indonesia.With the protection provided by the horns and rims of hard skin and cartilage on nose and head, they can easily break through the densest vegetation, leaving round tunnels They climb mountains easily and can negotiate very steep slopes and riverbanks. Sumatran rhinos can run fast and are very agile.Sumatran rhinos also have a prehensile upper lip, which assists in grasping their food The skin is fairly thin, about 10-16 mm, and is soft and pliable. There are two prominent folds in the skin that circle the body behind the front legs and before the hind legs, and lesser folds on the neck and at the base of the legs. Distinctive characteristics: aside from their small size and hairy bodies that distinguish the Sumatran rhinos from other rhino species, they also have unique skin folds.It is not used for fighting, but for scraping mud from the sides of wallows, pulling down food plants, as well as aiding the protection of the head and nose when breaking through dense forest vegetation Rhino horn is made of keratin, which is the same as fingernails and hair fibres. The larger front (anterior) horn is typically 15-25 cm long, and the smaller second (posterior) horn is normally much smaller, seldom more than a few cm in length, and often just an irregular knob on the tip of the nose. In the wild they are usually very smooth and form a slender cone that is curved backwards. The horn: Sumatran rhinos have two horns that are dark grey to black in colour.Their ears have a fringe of longer hairs, and the tail end has a tuft of thicker hairs This can vary from a short, bristly coat common in the wild, to a shaggy fur for those in captivity because there is less abrasion from vegetation. Hair: these are the hairiest species of rhino.Skin colour: Sumatran rhinos have a reddish-brown skin.Shoulder height: they usually stand at 1.2-1.45 metres and are about 2.5 metres long.Size: Sumatran rhino are by far the smallest species of rhino.More recently, widespread habitat loss and fragmentation have led to surviving animals struggling to meet and breed in the wild, while the threat of poaching still looms. It seems that their numbers declined dramatically due to a climate shift as long as 9,000 years ago, and have not managed to bounce back since. Research from the Marshall University in West Virginia recently shed light on just how long the Sumatran rhino population has been having difficulties. The Sumatran rhino has not had an easy ride. Now, more than 35 years later, official estimates suggest there are as few as 34-47 rhinos left in the wild. In 1986 it was believed there could have been as many as 800 Sumatran rhinos remaining in the wild.
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