More about the Rhinoceros

The ancestors of the modern rhinoceros first appeared about 20 million years ago and today’s rhino appeared about 10 million years ago. However, once man appeared, the decline of the rhino began. Since then, they have been hunted for their horns, for their skins, for sport, and for their range.

Today there are fewer than 18000 rhinos in the wild. They occur in three species in Asia and two in Africa, with the latter comprising the black rhino, with 4 sub-species, and the white rhino with 2 sub-species.

Although the situation is still generally desperate, it has improved in some respects. For instance, in 1895 there were only about 50 southern white rhino left, all of them in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Today there are about 11 000 in the wild, spread over eight countries after relocations to parks and private reserves. In fact, things have improved so much that the Southern White rhino is no longer on the IUCN’S Red List of Threatened Species. However, it remains on the Near-threatened list.

The Northern White rhino is in a desperate situation. For instance, there were 2000 in north-central Africa in 1960, but by 1984 the number was down to only 15 due to poaching. In 1980, Garamba National Park in the Congo, where the only population of the northern White Rhino was found, was declared a World Heritage Site in Danger, mainly to protect the rhino and the Congo giraffe, neither of which are found anywhere else in the world. The animals started to increase and were not affected by the civil war that raged in the country. However, in 2003 however poachers from the Sudan started killing for ivory and rhino horn, which reduced the numbers so drastically that by the end of 2004 there were only 10 animals left. Because of politics and Africa’s endemic instability, it is possible that this species might already have become extinct.

With about 96% of Black rhinos wiped out by poaching in the 1970s and 1980s, these animals are on the Critical list. In 2003 there were about 3,610 Black rhinos in the wild, mostly in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. A lot of the growth in populations has come about because of efforts by private land owners, or because of increased interest in wildlife by local communities For instance, in Namibia the desert black rhino been cared for on communal land in a collaborative effort by the local communities, government, and NGOs. Rhinos are prospering on conservancies and concessions on communal land where there is a growing consciousness of the benefits of ecotourism.

As always, Man is the greatest threat to the survival of rhinos of Africa. Civil wars, rebellions, poverty, and banditry can undo work of decades. Zimbabwe provides an unfortunate example of this. Not long ago, there were strict anti-poaching laws and measures, but now, in the chaos that has been unleashed by the Mugabe regime, a free-for-all attack on wild life has taken place. Inevitably, rhinos are suffering heavily.

As is widely known, rhinos are mainly hunted for their horns. Strangely enough, there is nothing special about rhino horn, which consists of keratin, the same material as human finger nails. It grows from the skin of the nose on a mound of nasal bone, will grow again if removed, and is used by the animals as a weapon of defence and attack. In spite of these prosaic facts, the horn has become the focus of a horde of myths and fallacious beliefs. For instance, in Chinese medicine, powdered rhino horn is used to cure fever and to improve male sexual performance. (Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the Chinese, or any other group of humans, has been persuaded to use powdered human finger nails as substitutes for rhino horn.)

Click here for information about the Save the Rhino Trust which operates mainly in communal areas. For another conservation success story, click on the page Communal Conservancies in Namibia.

View our self-drive tours of Namibia.