摘要：
世界自然基金会有关官员于近日表示，科学家们已经在位于马来西亚东部婆罗洲上的沙巴州发现了一小群苏门答腊犀牛，而它们一直被认为是目前世界上处境最为危险的犀牛品种之一。
A tiny population of the world's most endangered species of rhino has been found in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Borneo island, giving hope the animals can be saved, the WWF conservation group said.

世界自然基金会有关官员于近日表示，科学家们已经在位于马来西亚东部婆罗洲上的沙巴州发现了一小群苏门答腊犀牛，而它们一直被认为是目前世界上处境最为危险的犀牛品种之一。

据法新社3月17日报道，2005年5月，世界自然基金会的研究小组与沙巴州野生动物及林业部门的官员和学者在当地内陆地带找到了至少13头苏门答腊犀牛。

世界自然基金会亚洲犀牛项目的负责人克里斯蒂·威廉姆斯表示："这是我们首次在一个很小的特定区域里找到数量如此之多的犀牛。"据威廉姆斯介绍，动物保护学者此前估计目前在婆罗洲一带大约还存在30头至70头犀牛，它们全部生活在沙巴州。它们是存留在沙巴州地区的数量最为庞大的一个苏门答腊犀牛婆罗洲亚种群体。

这些犀牛目前已处于世界自然基金会和沙巴州当局的严密保护之下。由于盗猎行为日益猖獗，该种犀牛正面临灭顶之灾，而此次发现也使得人们对其数量的回升重拾信心。

威廉姆斯指出："对于那些分散居住的犀牛来说，由于盗猎行为的存在，它们彼此间被迫相隔遥远，这使得犀牛们无法完成诸如繁衍后代等群体职能。而在我们发现的这个群体里，它们彼此相互接触的概率则要高得多。"他同时还补充说，希望能够通过有效的打击盗猎行为，给犀牛留下足够的森林和栖息地，使它们的数量有所上升。"

世界自然基金会在一份单独发布的声明中表示，除了本次发现的这13头犀牛外，还有一些犀牛目前分散居住在沙巴州的其它地区。该声明同时指出，由于害怕那些盗猎者闻风而来，这些地区的具体位置均未对外公布。根据世界自然基金会估计，由于盗猎行为的存在，苏门答腊犀牛的数量在过去10年里已经减少了一半，这主要是因为犀牛角被认为具有一定的药用功效可以在亚洲地区的黑市上卖出高价。

据信，目前全世界仅有不足300头苏门答腊犀牛存活，其中最后几个较大的群体分布在马来西亚和印度尼西亚境内。

（国际在线独家资讯 张咏）

A tiny population of the world's most endangered species of rhino has been found in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Borneo island, giving hope the animals can be saved, the WWF conservation group said.

At least 13 Sumatran rhinos of the Bornean subspecies were located in a survey in May 2005 of an area in Sabah's interior by teams of WWF and state wildlife and forestry officials and academics.

"This is the first time we've actually found significant numbers in one compact location," said Christy Williams from WWF's Asian rhino programme.

Williams said conservationists previously only had population "guesstimates" of about 30 to 70 rhinos in Borneo, all of them in Sabah, and that sightings were usually scattered and of single animals.

"This is the first definitive count," he told AFP.

"This is the single largest population of the Borneo subspecies of the Sumatran rhino left in Borneo," he added.

Finding the 13 rhinos, now protected by WWF and Sabah state authority patrols, has raised hopes that the animal can bounce back from the toll taken by poaching.

"The problem with all these scattered rhinos is that, because they are being poached, they are so far apart that they are not carrying out the social functions like breeding," said Williams.

"In this population they have a better chance of meeting each other," he said, adding the rhino was usually a solitary creature.

"Our hope is that if you give enough protection against poachers and leave enough forest and habitat for them, they will bounce back."

WWF said in a separate statement that scattered individual rhinos were surviving in other parts of Sabah in addition to the 13.

No areas have been identified by the group for fear of alerting poachers to the animals' presence, it said.

WWF estimates that the number of Sumatran rhinos has declined by half due to poaching over the last 10 years, with rhino horns fetching a high price in Asian black markets due their believed medicinal properties.

It is believed that fewer than 300 Sumatran rhinos exist in the world, with the last significant groups in Malaysia and Indonesia.

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