 Reference Base  Mammals of Borneo, field keys and an annotated checklist |
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Medway, Lord, 1977. Mammals of Borneo, field keys and an annotated checklist. Kuala Lumpur, MBRAS (Monograph no. 7), pp. i-xii, 1-172
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| Location: |
Asia - South East Asia - Malaysia - Sabah |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Sumatran Rhino |
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The original range of this rhinoceros undoubtedly covered all mainland Borneo, but by the time of the first scientific investigations of the mammal fauna, human depredations had already begun to take their toll and the species was rare in settled areas. That its natural habitat was not restricted to the remote hills of the interior, as often asserted, is indicated by early reports from eastern Sabah where Pryer (1881) found rhinoceros `not infrequent; the tracks of one or two may usually be seen in the course of a walk in the low districts.' A contemporary handbook (Anon., 1886) noted that rhinoceroses `have more than once strayed inside the suburban line of Sandakan itself; on one occasion one went into a garden in the outskirts of the town and ate some melons; on another one managed to get into a chicken-house on the Beatrice estate ... ; on still another occasion, one came in from the forest and trotted past Mr Pryer's house into town in the middle of the night.'
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