lensman Robin Moore had never been to the Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia when he inspect about a year ago . He was there for one rationality and one reason only : to find a Javan rhinoceros .

These rhinos are critically scupper , with only up to 68 left in the earth . The fauna once roamed a prominent swath of Southeast Asia , including Bangladesh and Laos . But poaching and habitat loss quash their numbers to fewer than 30 by 1967 , according toSave the Rhino . Now , all the continue members of the species experience in this park — and they ’re rarely seen .

Moore was n’t indisputable he ’d see one on his trip with Global Wildlife Conservation and World Wildlife Fund , but he was hopeful . The squad of about 10 , including local help , spent the first three days following the rhinos ’ footprint along slowly - flux rivers that run through the park . By the quaternary twenty-four hour period , a loud clangour alert the team that its prized moment had add up .

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“ [ That haphazardness ] could only have been a rhinoceros , ” Moore told Earther . “ Nothing else could make that much dissonance in the forest . It really is a fondness stopping moment . You ’re start to agnize that the brute you ’ve been fantasizing about being a mythical tool is right there . ”

This rare rhino entered the mud wallow the squad purposefully set camp near . At first , Moore was glacial . But he cursorily gathered himself to capture pic of the beast and the rarified behavior the team was witnessing . Javan rhinos do n’t bath in mud for fun but to cool down down , Moore explain . clay bathroom also helps the rhino restraint parasites and biting insect .

The moment , which another member of the squad filmed , lasted all of 12 minutes . But between that and another another Javan rhino the gang spot for a mere 20 moment , the trip was a winner . Some people have spent X studying the Javan rhino without ever go out one , Moore take down .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

That ’s a staring contrast to other endangered rhino — like thewhite rhinoandblack rhinoin Africa — which live on grasslands and savannas . Plenty of beautiful images of these species already existdespite their dwindle away numbers . The same ca n’t be said for Javan rhinos .

Saving the species from extermination will take more than photos , but these double wreak the world one stride closer to understanding and empathizing with an animal that ’s rarely ever becharm on film . That was the whole pointedness , Moore tell .

“ [ Capturing this moment ] provides a glimpse of the life of an animal that we do n’t ever get to see , ” he separate Earther . “ pic and video just connect us on a more aroused level , and what I hope is that I can at least translate a fraction of what I mat to be aspect to face with this animate being by capture it . ”

William Duplessie

Indonesia

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