​Nature cam captures rare rhino baby frolicking

Rare Javan rhino baby caught on camera

This Javan rhino mama may look like she's smiling, but sadly, the critically endangered animal has little to smile about.

Of the five species of rhino, Javans are the most threatened. Since the last one in Vietnam was poached in 2010, there are now only 60 remaining, and only within the protected region of Indonesia's Ujung Kulon National Park.

But there are glimmers of hope -- in the form of three calves that recently increased the total population from 57. The calves were spotted by camera traps set up around the park by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). WWF has installed nearly 100 camera traps around the park and researchers were lucky to catch a clear glimpse of one of the calves bounding around its mother.

This valuable rare footage helps conservationists track and study the shy, elusive rhinos, which spend their time in dense rain forests.

WWF is working to protect what's left of the Javan rhinos' habitat from human encroachment, while supporting anti-poaching patrols. The organization is also trying to remove the invasive Arenga palm species that is overrunning the rhinos' natural food supply, for which the animals already must compete with a type of endangered wild cattle called banteng.

Ujung Kulon National Park is highly vulnerable to tsunamis and a major explosion of the Anak Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra. WWF warns natural disasters could "easily wipe out all life in the protected area."

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