Analysis of Wallow Characteristics of Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest 1822) in Ujung Kulon National Park

Abstract

Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest 1822) is a rare and unique species. Today, its population can only be found in Ujung Kulon National Park. One of insitu conservation efforts to keep the population existence of javan rhino is creating the second habitat. The most important thing to conduct this program is to identify the behaviors of javan rhino. Wallowing is an important behavior of javan rhino. Based on javan rhino’s behavior, the characteristic of its wallow can be identified. The observed characteristics of wallow will determine the standard or criteria of habitat which will be used for selection strategy of further javan rhino’s wallow. The objective of this study was to identify the wallow characteristic of javan rhino both physical and biological factors and to identify the dominant ecological factor in determining wallow selection strategy for javan rhino. The results of this study is hopefully used for the consideration in determining the second habitat of javan rhino and for the basics information of habitat development of javan rhino insitu conservation. The data that were collected consisted of physical characteristic javan rhino’s wallow i.e. the length and the width of wallow, the depth of mud and water of wallow, water pH inside the wallow, the height of wallow site, the temperature and humidity, and the distance from wallow to the coastal, river, and from human access. The biotic characteristic aspects of javan rhino’ wallow that were observed consisted of the number of javan rhino’ feed and the total density of vegetation spread around the wallow according to result of vegetation analysis. The observation result shows that the dominant length of wallow was range from 3-4 meters and the width was range from 2-3 meters. The temperature was about 26-29°C with 67-90% of humidity, water pH of the wallow was normal (pH 7). The height of wallow site was < 100 m above sea level, and mostly found in 1354-2292 meters from the coastal, 702-1012 meters from the river, and 50-370 meters from human access. The total density of vegetation around the wallow was about 8750-53755 ind/ha for the seedling, 800-18607 ind/ha for the sapling, 25- 906 ind/ha for the poles, and 25-174 ind/ha for the tree. The location of 16th and 18th wallows consisted of highest number of feed, which were 35 species of plants. Based on the result of factor analysis, the dominant ecological factors of wallow selection are height of the site, air temperature, and tree density.