The wildlife group WWF-Malaysia today said that its rare footage of a critically-endangered Sumatran rhinoceros was of the Bornean sub-species.

The footage, taken in a forest in Sabah, shows a rhino eating, peering through jungle foliage and sniffing the automatic video camera equipment used to shoot it.

WWF-Malaysia had said Tuesday the two-minute clip was the first shot of the Sumatran rhino, but issued a clarification Wednesday to say it was instead unprecedented footage of the Bornean sub-species.

"The recently released rhino footage is the first-ever obtained of behaviour in the wild of the Bornean sub-species of the Sumatran or Asiatic Two-horned Rhinoceros, in Borneo," it said in a statement.

"The Bornean sub-species is the rarest of all rhinos, distinguished from Sumatran rhinos elsewhere by its relatively small size, small teeth and a head that is high and narrow at the back end."

The Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the world's most endangered species with only small numbers left on Indonesia's Sumatra island, Sabah and peninsular Malaysia, according to the WWF.

Scientists estimate that there are only between 25 and 50 of the Bornean sub-species left on the island, it has said.