A unique subspecies of rhino, Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, is entirely extinct. The disappearance itself occurred in 2010, but it was only last October that zoologists were able to confirm what they had feared.

Historically, there have been three subspecies of the one-horned Javan rhinoceros. The first to disappear was Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis, a variety that roamed India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar until a century ago. Now the beast has lost its foothold in Vietnam, leaving only Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus in Indonesia. We are despairingly close to losing the species altogether. The IUCN listing for this critically-endangered mammal, last updated in 2008, notes that fewer than 50 exist in the wild, constantly threatened by poaching and confined to