Ujung Kulon National Park

▪ national park, Java, Indonesia

English  Point Kulon National Park 

 

national park on the island of Java, in Jawa Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. It is best known as the last refuge of the one-horned Javan rhinoceros. A remote area of low hills and plateaus, with small lagoons and coastal dunes, it occupies 475 square miles (1,229 square km) on a peninsula and some islands at the extreme western tip of Java. The park faces the Sunda Strait, separating Java from Sumatra, and includes Panaitan Island, about 6 miles (10 km) north of the peninsula.

 The Krakatau Islands, a small group of islands that are remnants of the famous volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, are located about 40 miles (65 km) north of the peninsula. Following Krakatoa's explosions and tidal waves, the peninsula was blanketed by a layer of volcanic ash and dust. After the jungle grew back and the area was reinhabited by wildlife, it was set aside as a nature reserve in 1921; the national park was proposed in 1980 and formally established in 1992. The area was designated a World Heritage site in 1991. The park today contains the last remaining low-relief forest on Java; typical trees are of the genera Ficus and Barringtonia.

 Only 25 to 60 Javan, or lesser one-horned, rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros sondaicus) remain alive, although the animals once thrived throughout the islands of Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and other areas of Southeast Asia. The hide of the Javan rhinoceros is characterized by large plates of hard tissue joined by thinner, more flexible layers of skin. The male has short horns about 10 inches (25 cm) long, and both males and females have lower incisors resembling tusks. The cow reproduces at intervals of 3–5 years, giving birth to a single 110-pound (50-kg) calf after a gestation period of 16 months. Adults may grow to some 11 feet (3.2 metres) in length and weigh more than 1.4 tons. Poaching and disease are the gravest threats to the remaining Javan rhinoceroses. Additional species in the park include the banteng (a species of wild cattle), Javan gibbon, Javan leaf monkey, crocodile, green turtle, green peafowl, jungle fowl, muntjac (barking deer), and chevrotain, or mouse deer. In the late 20th century the Javan tiger, which had inhabited the area, was considered to be extinct.

 

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