Warning Horn In an effort to make them useless to poachers, researchers are implanting radioactive isotopes into the horns of rhinos in South Africa. The unusual material would “render the horn useless… essentially poisonous for human consumption,” James Larkin, professor and dean of science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Agence France-Presse. […]
Tag: rhinos
Javan rhino poacher gets 12 years in record sentence for wildlife crime in Indonesia
A court in Indonesia has sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for poaching six critically endangered Javan rhinos, in what’s been hailed as the harshest punishment handed down for wildlife crime to date. Poaching carries a maximum sentence of five years under Indonesian law, and prosecutors had sought this figure in the case […]
Poachers claim to have killed one-third of all Javan rhinos, Indonesian police say
A staggering 26 Javan rhinos may have been killed in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park since 2019, according to local law enforcement. Once roaming much of Southeast Asia, Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) today survive in a single park in Java and are one of the most endangered large mammals on Earth. If the death toll […]
Nepali experts question rhino relocation within park for population balance
KATHMANDU — On March 21, Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation completed the relocation of six vulnerable one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) from the western part of Chitwan National Park to the eastern side. Department officials initiated the move to rectify the skewed distribution of the animal’s population, which was dominant in and around […]
Not just polar bears — climate change could push African rhinos to extinction
New research is ringing alarm bells about how climate change may impact one of Africa’s most iconic and vulnerable animals: the rhinoceros. “Climate change has the potential of wiping out all of them in the blink of an eye,” says Hlelowenkhosi Mamba, an Eswatini native and Fulbright scholar. Mamba and Timothy Randhir, from the University […]
Borakalalo National Park – Where rhinos no longer roam
I spent the weekend walking in one of my favourite spots in this country, Borakalalo NP. Situated in South Africa’s North West province this accessible and well-known jewel has, until recently, been a haven for birds and animals alike. Even so, rhino poaching and other isolated incidents of baseless brutality and the proliferation of wire-snares […]