Four white rhinos, each weighing over two tonnes and with a shoulder height of up to six feet, stood shoulder to shoulder, huffing, stomping their front feet and kicking up clouds of dust. They were close enough that, though they have notoriously bad eyesight, even they could have read the trainee name tags on our […]
Tag: black rhino
Herculean Effort to Restore Mozambique’s Rhino Population Succeeds with 61 Animals Moved There
9 female white rhino have been reintroduced to one of Mozambique’s southern national parks as part of a mammoth undertaking to bring back species the country has lost. Mozambique was the victim of one of Africa’s worst post-colonial power struggles, during which time they lost virtually all of several large animals during a civil war […]
South African men sentenced in ‘world’s largest’ rhino horn trafficking case
Two traffickers of rhino horns have been sentenced by a South African court in what police said was the world’s largest such case, partly bringing to an end an almost two-decade legal saga. Dawie Groenewald and Tielman Erasmus had faced more than 1,700 charges ranging from illegally hunting and dehorning rhinos to racketeering and money […]
Chinese court cases reveal most trafficked rhino horns come from Southern Africa
Rhinoceroses, one of the largest groups of animals on the planet, are fighting a battle for survival because of a prized body part: their horn, which they use to defend territories, assert dominance and protect their young. But people use this keratinous horn as medicine, adornment and decoration. In traditional Chinese medicine, it’s believed to […]
A South African reserve shows how carbon can catalyze rewilding conservation
TSWALU KALAHARI RESERVE, South Africa — From high on a promontory in the Korannaberg Mountains, a mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) peers down to the west across the green-dappled plain below, the sun rising behind. In the distance, wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunt in the veld, verdant after early rains. And nearby, white rhinos (Ceratotherium […]
Rhino review – Tom Hardy channels David Attenborough in mission to save Kenya’s rhinos
Here is a rare wildlife success story. The world’s black rhino population has plummeted to just over 6,000 as rhinos are pushed to the brink of extinction by habitat loss and poaching. But conservation efforts have resulted in a rhino comeback in Kenya, where numbers are growing in fenced-off sanctuaries known as conservancies that employ […]
Head-butting, drowning and dive-bombing – discover 10 most aggressive, badass animals on the planet that aren’t afraid to put up a fight
They say that nice guys finish last, a sentiment with which this motely crew of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians and insects would surely agree. As some of the most aggressive species on the planet, they’ve figured out that offence is often the best defence, whether you’re a bull shark headbutting its prey, a honey […]
Latest rhino assessment finds two species recovering, but three continue to decline
Over the last two decades, conservationists have fought a formidable battle: Trying to protect the world’s remaining rhinos in Africa and Asia from poachers. The slaughter is driven by relentless demand for rhino horn in East Asia, where it’s a status symbol and used in traditional medicine, despite studies debunking any medicinal benefits. On the […]