Humanity's Shame: Javan Rhino Extinction

Left: A Javan rhino's leg which was found with a bullet lodged inside, in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park. 

Right: Officials arrange the skeleton of the last Javan rhino in Vietnam. 

The critically-endangered Javan rhinoceros has become extinct in Vietnam after poachers apparently killed the country's last animal for its horn.

Picture: WWF Greater Mekong/PA/AP

The undated photo below, was issued by the WWF Greater Mekong and it shows a Javan rhino captured on camera in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park.

The species had been thought to have disappeared from mainland Asia until 1988, when an individual was hunted in the Cat Tien area of Vietnam, leading to the discovery of a small population.

But efforts to conserve the remaining Javan rhinos in Cat Tien National Park have failed, experts said.

Genetic analysis of 22 dung samples collected between 2009 and 2010 by a survey team from Cat Tien National Park and wildlife charity WWF, has revealed that they all belonged to a single individual which was found dead in April last year.