KOTA KINABALU/Sept 22: Sabah celebrated World Rhino Day with the launch of a publication titled “The Hairy Rhinoceros” by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin.
The book, authored by Datuk John Junaidi Payne, a British with a permanent resident of Sabah since 1979, was published by Datuk Chan Chew Lun of Natural History Publication Borneo.
The production of the book was sponsored the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of which 1,000 copies were given to them.
Another 1,000 copies with the Sabah government for distribution to libraries, educational institutions and other not-for-profit purposes.
The thickness of the book is 140 pages with 40 or so photos to provide an impression of the story.
The text is quite dense to read, but describes the story from many angles to give attention to detail.
Hairy rhino was chosen for the title of the book instead of Sumatran rhino simply because this species had been roaming around Southeast Asia a 1,000 years ago before its extinction.
There are several possibilities that led to the extinction of hairy rhino, among them was the major human impact started many 1,000 years ago, in China.
Another reason was too few hairy rhinos in any one place, and too few births.
The nation is expected to see less habitat loss in the future as Sabah has committed to forest conservation while Malaysia committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.-HS
