dizzygizzy 
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(3/20/06 6:05 am)
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Endangered Rhino species holding on in Mayalsia's Sabah stat
Endangered rhino species holding on in Malaysia's Sabah state Fri Mar 17, 7:11 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A tiny population of the world's most endangered species of rhino has been found in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Borneo island, giving hope the animals can be saved, the WWF conservation group said.
At least 13 Sumatran rhinos of the Bornean subspecies were located in a survey in May 2005 of an area in Sabah's interior by teams of WWF and state wildlife and forestry officials and academics.
"This is the first time we've actually found significant numbers in one compact location," said Christy Williams from WWF's Asian rhino programme.
Williams said conservationists previously only had population "guesstimates" of about 30 to 70 rhinos in Borneo, all of them in Sabah, and that sightings were usually scattered and of single animals.
"This is the first definitive count," he told AFP.
"This is the single largest population of the Borneo subspecies of the Sumatran rhino left in Borneo," he added.
Finding the 13 rhinos, now protected by WWF and Sabah state authority patrols, has raised hopes that the animal can bounce back from the toll taken by poaching.
"The problem with all these scattered rhinos is that, because they are being poached, they are so far apart that they are not carrying out the social functions like breeding," said Williams.
"In this population they have a better chance of meeting each other," he said, adding the rhino was usually a solitary creature.
"Our hope is that if you give enough protection against poachers and leave enough forest and habitat for them, they will bounce back."
WWF said in a separate statement that scattered individual rhinos were surviving in other parts of Sabah in addition to the 13.
No areas have been identified by the group for fear of alerting poachers to the animals' presence, it said.
WWF estimates that the number of Sumatran rhinos has declined by half due to poaching over the last 10 years, with rhino horns fetching a high price in Asian black markets due their believed medicinal properties.
It is believed that fewer than 300 Sumatran rhinos exist in the world, with the last significant groups in Malaysia and Indonesia.
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