Borneo Rhino caught on Video - first time ever

In June 2006 there was much excitement in nature/science circles when the elusive Borneo Rhino was caught on film for the first time.
Article - June 2006

Now, the (not the same ) rhino has been caught on video for the very first time.

Scientists estimate there are only between 25 and 50 rhinos left on the island of Borneo. These last survivors of the Bornean subspecies of Sumatran rhinos are believed to remain only in the interior forests of Sabah, Malaysia — an area known as the “Heart of Borneo.” The rhinos are so secretive that the first-ever still photo of one was captured last year.

“These are very shy animals that are almost never seen by people,” said Mahedi Andau, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department. “This video gives us an amazing opportunity to spy on the rhino’s behaviour.”
...
On Borneo, there have been no confirmed reports of rhinos apart from those in Sabah for almost 20 years, leading experts to fear that the species may now be extinct on the rest of the island.
Source

What does this mean for Cryptozoology?
This just shows us once again that there are animals out there that evade the human eye and more importantly - human audio-visual tools. If a simple rhino can evade our lenses for this long, why can't beasts like the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, etc. not do the same?

[edit on 25-4-2007 by Gemwolf]

Hopefully footage like this will save the rainforest in Borneo, so main wonderful animals still out there.

Haha, so great a video! I LOVE how it sniffs out everything!

How tall is it? It doesnt seem that large to me.

Originally posted by Thain Esh Kelch
How tall is it? It doesnt seem that large to me.

You're right, it isn't very large - in fact it's the smallest of the rhinos.

The Sumatran, or hairy, rhino is the smallest of the living rhinoceroses and the only Asian rhino species with two horns.
...
The body length ranges from 2 to 3 m and usually from 1 to 1.5 m in height. Body weight has been estimated at 600-950 kg.

Source

Originally posted by Gemwolf


What does this mean for Cryptozoology?
This just shows us once again that there are animals out there that evade the human eye and more importantly - human audio-visual tools. If a simple rhino can evade our lenses for this long, why can't beasts like the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, etc. not do the same?

[edit on 25-4-2007 by Gemwolf]

Couldnt agree more, really just re-inforces why we havent caught anything like Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, etc. Seems we just like to speculate.

The most important question here, as far as relating this video to cryptozoology, is this: Have there been legitimate discoveries of the carcasses of these animals?

In short: Have we found any bodies?

If so then I do not think this should really apply to cryptozoology...or at the very least should not be associated with Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, etc. Seeing as a carcass has never been discovered/recovered.

Awwwww. I'm going to name him .... Leonato.

He's so cute! I want a pet Borneo Rhino!

Great find. I can't believe there's only 25-50 of them left. That's very depressing to me.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
What does this mean for Cryptozoology?
This just shows us once again that there are animals out there that evade the human eye and more importantly - human audio-visual tools. If a simple rhino can evade our lenses for this long, why can't beasts like the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, etc. not do the same?
[edit on 25-4-2007 by Gemwolf]

There's a big difference between a closed body of water and a dense jungle. In my opinion, if there was a Loch Ness Monster, or a Bigfoot for that matter, we would have found a body by now. Also keep in mind that they have known this rhino existed for many years, just the interest hasn't been high enough to devote serious resources to filming it.

Funny how it found the camera, haha, then seemed to run away.

He/she seemed very cautious, probably the reason its rarely seen. Nice video.

Originally posted by Ratzaroony
There's a big difference between a closed body of water and a dense jungle. In my opinion, if there was a Loch Ness Monster, or a Bigfoot for that matter, we would have found a body by now. Also keep in mind that they have known this rhino existed for many years, just the interest hasn't been high enough to devote serious resources to filming it.

Maybe, maybe not.

On Borneo, there have been no confirmed reports of rhinos apart from those in Sabah for almost 20 years, leading experts to fear that the species may now be extinct on the rest of the island.

No rhino has been seen for over 20 years, leading scientists to think that it was extinct. That means no carcass was found either.

Let's look at other numbers...
In 2005 scientists found dozens of new animal and insect species in New Guinea. Live animals, not dead animals. Source
In 2006 scientists discovered more than 100 new species in the Hawaiian Islands. Live animals, not dead ones. Source
In 2006 2 new species of animals was found in the Philippines. Live animals, not dead ones. Source
In 2006 52 new species was discovered on Borneo. 400 hundred species since 1996. Funny enough during this 10-year research project no sign of the Borneo Rhino was found. (Which also tells us more than enough time and money and interest were spent in the jungles of Borneo.)Source
In 2005 Scientists discovered a new species of monkey in East Africa. Live animals, again. Source
In 2006 8 new live species were discovered in Israel. Source
In 2002 they rediscovered the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in Arkansas, USA after they thought it extinct for over 10 years (with no confirmed sightings for nearly 60 years.) No carcasses were found for 60 years - and still aren’t found.
Source
I can go on and on like this. As you can see the past 2 years (or so) hundreds of new species was discovered. No one found a "body" to give a slight indication that the animal existed. The breakthrough was live animals.

Look at the Big Cat(s) roaming around in Britain. Only one skull has been found (in 2005, the first believed "real evidence") which could belong to the elusive black "panther-like" cat prancing around the place. (It's difficult to be sure about the origin of a feline skull, seeing that large cats lived on the Islands up 1500 years ago, and hundreds of cats escaped circuses, zoos and illegal owners in the past 40+ years.) Several other larger cats have been killed over the past few years, but the majority of them have been traced back to their human owners. All that said, the British isles are a lot smaller than the USA, with a higher population per area.

A guessed number of 25 Borneo Rhinos keeps the species alive in 427,500 km² (21.8 sq mi) of rainforest. I must agree/admit that the 56.4 km² of Loch Ness (with depths of up to 230 m (754 feet)) may not be enough to sustain an animal of the size some reported sightings describe. Compared to Lake Champlain (1130 km² (435 mi²) surface and depths of up to 122 m (400.3 ft), which is much more likely to sustain a larger species.

Nonetheless, the area of uninhabited natural forest in the USA is vast, more than enough space to sustain any "undiscovered species" such as a large primate or humanoid sub-species, better known in the public tongue as Bigfoot.

In conclusion, hoping to find a "body" (or rather carcass) of an animal to proof that the species exists is a fool’s game. Every new species that is discovered reminds us that we do not yet know everything, nor know all animals. Cryptos may still be discovered, and removed from the crypto list. Which would be a pity. I'd hate to see Bigfoot "go".

Hell yeah! These rhinos have always been one of my favorite animals.

awesome video! i agree that this is kind of a step in cryptozoology.. we're just getting this animal on tape now! imagine what else is out there

funny how he was sniffing the camera at the end

Ok, it's not letting me quote you because the post would be to long, but this is in response to Gemwolf. I'll talk about the rhino thing first. In the source it clearly says that they didn't see any except in Sabah, which is a region in the Northeast corner of Borneo. So they didn't think it was extinct, they knew it was very much alive. As for the new animals found, if you look at where the animals were found, they were all found in largely uninhabited areas (Israel for example - the animals were found in a lake in a cave). These animals aren't being found in populated areas, let alone tourist hot spots. Not to mention the animals being found, with the exception of the animals found in dense jungle, are all relatively small creatures. They aren't 20 foot long dinosaurs. The filming of this rhino is really cool, but there's nothing spectacular about it, and there's certainly no reason this would have any implications about the Loch Ness monster. It might have implications for cryptids found in remote locations, but not the Loch Ness monster.

thing looks freaking scary

Mod Note: One Line Post – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 28-5-2007 by sanctum]

Ok, the concocted hypothesis' in this thread are pretty funny, its CLEARLY a stegosaurus....

And the Idea that the 'spikes' on the back were not part of the carving is laughable.....The drawing that was did to depict this even cut off some 'spikes' to sell the idea to others.

In addition, it was obviously a creature that was current based upon the context of the carving(s), and the accuracy of the others shoot down the lame duck of an idea that the artist was blindly creating an animal and stumbled across the depicted likeness.

reply to post by stonesrunit


I think you're looking for the Stegosaurus in Cambodian Jungle? Ancient Carving thread. Or I have no idea what you're on about...

[edit on 21-3-2009 by Gemwolf]

Exciting video, thanks for posting it. I am all for preserving present bounty for future generations to enjoy. If a thing is going extinct odds are it will go extinct unless it can rebound from over hunting and habitat destruction. We shouldn't just throw up our hands and say fuggetaboutit.