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| Thai Wildlife > Rare or Extinct |
Asian Two-horned Rhinoceros
Species: Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Fischer, 1814)
Synonyms: Didermocerus sumatrensis (Brookes, 1828); Rhinoceros lasiotis (Buckland, 1872); Ceratorhinus niger (Gray, 1873)
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Common names: Asian Two-horned Rhinoceros; Sumatran Rhinoceros
The common word Kra-su is of Karen descent word meaning a rhinoceros with two horns.
It is the smallest of the rhinoceros.
Like the other rhinoceros they have a thick body on four short legs with three toes on their hooves, small eyes and standing ears. However, they are smaller with only one body ridge at the shoulder.
They also have hairs running along the body and on the rim of the ears.
The Kra-su does not have body knobs. In addition there is a distinct bone ridge that runs from the waist down to the tail.
The most important distinguishing feature is the presence of two nose horns. The front horn is longer at about 25 centimeters while the second one is about 10 centimeters.
The Kra-su measures 1.0-1.4 meters at the shoulder with a body length of 2.4-2.6 meters. The tail is about 0.65 meters while the body weight ranges from 900-1,000 kilograms.
It can be found from the Assam province of India to Bangladesh to Southeast Asia, Sumatra and Borneo.
Today the natural habitat of the kra-su has mostly been destroyed, thus it is forced to stay in small groups very far from one another.
Major areas where kra-su can still be found in nature are in Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Some may still be found in Burma and Laos. In Thailand they can still be found in wildlife reserves, living in tropical evergreen forests.
They like to live near water sources.
The eyesight is not good, seeing only see at close range but is supplemented by good smell and hearing.
The kra-su eats leaves and fruit, usually at night and mates during July-October.
The mother carries the foal for 7-8 months giving birth to one offspring at a time with weight of roughly 15 kilograms.
A kra-su raised in captivity can live up to 33 years.
It is close to extinction because of hunting for horn, meat, and blood and it is believed that eating the rhinoceros will give good health and cure many diseases. In addition the kra-su are found in isolation thus it reduces their mating chances across herds. This limits the ability to exchange genes that will help to maintain the biodiversity of the herd in nature.
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