Four calves of the world's rarest species of rhino have been found in a jungle on Indonesia's Java island, giving hope to efforts to save them from extinction, an official said yesterday.

"Four Javan rhinos of six to seven months age were seen by scientists on the beach near the jungle during a recent field survey," Agus Primabudi, the head of the Ujung Kulon National Park in West Java, said.

Alerted to the presence of humans, the baby rhinos fled into the park to where two adult rhinos, believed to be their parents, were staying, Primabudi said.

Primabudi said that the calves' births has given hope that the Javan rhinos can breed in the wild at levels high enough to keep the local population alive into the future.

"The most important thing we can do is to protect their habitat so that they can breed easily," said Primabudi.

The Javan rhino, distinguished by its small size, single horn and loose skin folds, is likely the most endangered large mammal on the planet, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF). None of the animals currently live in captivity.

Roughly 90 percent of the world's 50 or so Javan rhinos live in Ujung Kulon park, an oasis of wilderness on the western edge of one of the world's most densely populated islands.

(China Daily December 24, 2008)