Surviving on twigs, shoots and fruits, he consumes around 50kg of food a day. The average life span of a Sumatran rhino, in a non-threatening environment, is 35 years. The female rhino reaches sexual maturity at the age of four, three years before male rhinos. The gestation period is about 400 days and produces only one infant per birth. This long gestation period makes it difficult for the rhino to combat the increased poaching activity that threatens this specie's survival.
Some experts consider the Sumatran rhino to be the oldest of all surviving rhino species.
Just a century ago they lived in large populations throughout Southeast Asia. Recent counts estimate that there are less than 400 Sumatran rhinos remaining. These survivors have been found in Sumatra, Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah, and Thailand. There are unconfirmed populations in Sarawak, Myanmar, and Laos. The main threat to the Sumatran rhino is man.