Javan rhinos survive eruption in Indonesia, but single habitat leaves species vulnerable

Indonesia's critically endangered Javan rhinos survived a volcanic eruption near their only habitat this month, park officials said, with Mount Anak Krakatau erupting roughly 50 kilometers from Ujung Kulon National Park. Rangers report the rhinos appear unaffected beyond minor vibrations and noise.

The bigger problem is nobody agrees how many rhinos exist: Save the Rhino estimates about 50, while Indonesia's forestry ministry claims 87 to 100, a gap that widened after a 2023 investigation found the government's count included rhinos not seen on camera for years, some later confirmed dead. The entire population lives in one low-lying, tsunami-prone park, a vulnerability underscored by a 2018 tsunami that killed one rhino.

A proposed second habitat was ruled out in 2019 because the site doubled as a military training ground, and a recent attempt to relocate a rhino within the park ended in the animal's death from parasitic infection. The species has no other wild population anywhere on Earth to fall back on.

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