Asian rhinos

Shared threats

All three species were driven down by poaching for horn and by the loss and fragmentation of their habitat. Those pressures persist, but for the two Indonesian species the binding constraint has shifted. Populations small enough that animals struggle to find mates fail to reproduce even where habitat and protection are adequate — and prolonged non-breeding causes reproductive pathology — documented across rhino species, and most severely in the greater one-horned — that can render females permanently infertile. Small populations concentrated in single sites are also exposed to catastrophic loss from a single event.

How the AsRSG responds

The group's three species working groups provide the scientific and strategic backbone, supported by four functional groups covering conservation breeding and assisted reproduction, partnerships, communications and membership. The group advises range state governments, convenes expertise across borders, and turns expert consensus into national action plans and technical reviews — the most substantial of which are in the publications library.