Sole record of a Sumatran Rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni in Sungei Ingei Conservation Forest, Brunei Darussalam

An individual Sumatran Rhinoceros was identified via camera trapping during the Sungei Ingei Faunal Biodiversity Survey from 2010-2012. This in-situ survey involved the deployment of 82 camera traps with a trapping effort of 51,202 trap-nights and of 9,502 independent samples of mammals obtained, with an exclusive sole image of a rhinoceros. The continued camera trapping survey over the three years did not yield any more evidence of its presence as the position of the camera traps were not rhino-focused but distributed over a large area to document all wildlife which was the primary purpose of the Survey. The single image obtained from such intensive camera trapping suggests a few possibilities - not more than a single individual was present or it was a surviving straggler or a member of a very dispersed population. This discovery was not revealed for the last 15 years owing to the rampant poaching in the country during the time when it was discovered. A fresh field search for the Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only way to ascertain whether there is any surviving at present, or if it was the last rhinoceros in Brunei.