World's rarest - and smallest - rhino charges the camera

The footage of the Javan rhino and her calf foraging for food at night was captured by an infra-red camera hidden in the rainforest by conservationists.

But when the mother rhino spotted the camera behind its camouflage of branches, she went into attack mode.

This image taken from video footage provided by WWF shows rare endangered Javan rhino with its calf

The film shows her charging towards the camera. Seconds later it is knocked over with a savage blow from her horn and everything goes dark.

Fortunately, the camera was not badly damaged. And now wildlife experts from the WWF conservation charity have the first film of Javan rhinos on the Indonesian island that gave them their name.

They hope it will help them understand a little more about the creatures.

Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, head of the rhino project at the Ujung Kulon national park, said: 'We believe there are just 60 Javan rhinos in the wild, so to capture any one of them on film - let alone two - is remarkable.

'With fewer than 60 Javan Rhinos left in the wild, we believe this footage was well worth the risk to our equipment.

'It is very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan Rhino deep inside the rain forest.'

Camera shy: It is rare to capture the endangered Javan rhino on film

Javan rhinos are much smaller than their African cousins - growing to about 6ft high and 12ft long - and are found only in Indonesia and Vietnam, with most of them in Java.

There are concerns that if the animals die out in Indonesia it will spell doom for the entire species.

WWF official Desmarita Murni said: 'If something happens to this population in Ujung, they will be all gone in Indonesia.

'Knowing how they live, we can find a way to protect them.'

WWF officials say they plan to relocate several of the rhinos in the park to another part of Indonesia in the hope that they breed.

Apart from the 60 Javan Rhinos, there are thought to be around 300 Sumatran rhinos still alive in isolated pockets in the forests of Malaysia and Sumatra island.
Javan rhinos are found only in Indonesia and Vietnam, with Java home to more than 90 percent of the population.

About 60 of the Javan Rhinos in the wild live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java island. The remainder live in Vietnam.

Rhino numbers in Indonesia over the past 50 years have been decimated by rampant poaching for horns used in traditional Chinese medicines and destruction of forests by farmers, illegal loggers and palm oil plantation companies.