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a graph showing the rhino population evolution

Continuous decline of mature individuals:

Population severely fragmented:

Throughout most of the 20th century, the Black Rhino was the most numerous of the world's rhino species. Relentless hunting of the species and clearances of land for settlement and agriculture reduced numbers and by 1960 only an estimated 100,000 remained.

Between 1960 and 1995, large-scale poaching caused a dramatic 98% collapse in numbers with numbers bottoming out in the mid 1990s. Over this period numbers only increased in South Africa and Namibia (Emslie and Brooks 1999). From 1992–1997 total numbers remained relatively stable with increases in some countries (those with the best-protected and managed populations) being cancelled out by declines in others. However, since the lows of the mid-1990s, Black Rhino numbers at a continental level have more than doubled reaching and estimated 5,495 by end 2017 (Emslie et al. 2019) and 5,630 by end 2018 (Knight 2019). Figure 1 in the attached Supplementary Information documentation shows how estimated total numbers of Black Rhino have changed over the last three-generations based on best estimates of rhino numbers per subspecies per country per year going back three-generations to 1973.

a map of africa showing the habitats of black rhinos

System:

Terrestrial

Generational Length (years):

14.96

Continuing decline in area and/or quality of habitat:

Black Rhino occur in a wide variety of habitats from desert areas in Namibia to wetter wooded areas. The highest densities of rhinos are found in savannas on nutrient-rich soils and in succulent Valley Bushveld areas.

Black Rhino are browsers and favour small acacia's and other palatable woody species (Grewia's, Euphorbiaceae species, etc.) as well as palatable herbs and succulents. However, because of high levels of secondary plant chemicals, much woody plant browse (especially many evergreen species) in some areas is unpalatable. Failure to appreciate this, has in the past led to carrying capacities being over-estimated in some areas. Apart from plant species composition and size structure, Black Rhino carrying capacity is related to rainfall, soil nutrient status, fire histories, levels of grass interference, extent of frost and densities of other large browsers. To maintain rapid population growth rates and prevent potential habitat damage if the population overshoots carrying capacity, populations of Black Rhinos should be managed at densities below long term ecological carrying capacity (i.e., below zero growth densities). Surplus rhino that are removed from such established populations are routinely being profitably invested in new areas with suitable habitat and protection where populations can grow rapidly.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylia

Chordata

Order

Perissodactyla

Family

Rhinocerotidae

Genus

Diceros

Authority

Linnaeus, 1758

English

Black Rhino, Black Rhinoceros,
Hook-Lipped Rhinoceros

French

hinocéros Noir

Spanish; Castilian ;

Rhinoceronte Negro

Biological resource use

Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals

Human intrusions & disturbance

War, civil unrest & military exercises

Natural system modifications

Other ecosystem modifications

Invasion and other problematic species, genes & diseases

Invasive non-native/Alien species/Diseases

here is significant population genetic differentiation between all three extant subspecies of Black Rhinoceros (hereafter Black Rhino) recognised by the IUCN SSC African Rhinoceros Specialist Group (AfRSG) (Harley et al. 2005), and the differences are consistent with them being considered subspecies although it is unlikely that outbreeding depression would occur in any mix of these populations (E. Harley pers. comm. 2016). Subsequent classification analyses of RhoDIS DNA samples (originally undertaken primarily for forensic purposes) also strongly supported use of the current three surviving subspecies classification at a continental level. It also indicated that Diceros bicornis minor samples could be further subdivided into those of Zambesi, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) or mixed Zambesi/KZN origin (Emslie 2018, Harper et al. 2018). Moodley et al. (2017) also found this partitioning of D. b. minor. The populations founded with KZN animals were found to be less genetically diverse than ones derived from Zambesi animals due to a relatively recent severe bottleneck (Emslie 2018, Harper et al. 2018). Data indicates that most of the genetic diversity has been recovered in the large mixed KZN/Zambesi founded population in the Kruger National Park (C. Harper pers. comm. 2018).

Benson, C. W. 1960. The birds of the Comoro Islands: results of the British Ornithologists' Union Centenary Expedition 1958. Ibis 103b: 5-106. del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. IUCN. 2016. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016-3. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 07 December 2016). Louette, M.; Neri, F.; Stevens, J. 1993. Distribution et abondance des oiseaux forestiers de Mayotte (Océan Indien). L'Oiseau et la Revue Française d'Ornithologie 63: 115-126. Louette, M.; Stevens, J.; Bijnens, L.; Janssens, L. 1988. Survey of the endemic avifauna of the Comoro Islands. International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, U.K. Rocamora, G. 2004. Les oiseaux des espaces naturels remarquables de Mayotte. Rapport SEF/DAF. Collectivité de Mayotte. Available at: #http://etic.univ-reunion.fr/get/images/Mayotte/mayotte_oiseaux.pdf#. Safford, R. J. 2001. Mayotte. In: Fishpool, L.D.C.; Evans, M.I. (ed.), Important Bird Areas in Africa and associated islands: Priority sites for conservation, pp. 597-601. Pisces Publications and BirdLife International (BirdLife Conservation Series No.11), Newbury and Cambridge, UK. Safford, R. J.; Evans, M. I. 1992. Birds on the Comoro Islands, April 1990. Scopus 15: 93-101. Stevens, J.; Louette, M. 1999. Land bird abundance and the conservation of biodiversity on the island of Mayotte (Indian Ocean). Alauda 67: 123-139.

The Rhino Family

Mammalia

Elasmotherium

Elasmotherium caucasicum

Mammalia

Javan Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros sondaicus

Increasing ▲

Mammalia

Woolly rhinoceros

Coelodonta antiquitatis

black and white image of a rhino with long hair

Mammalia

Greater One-horned Rhino

Rhinoceros unicornis

Increasing▲

Mammalia

White Rhino

Ceratotherium simum

Decreasing ▼

Mammalia

Sumatran Rhinoceros

Dicerorhinus sumatrensis

Decreasing ▼

Mammalia

Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis

Dicerorhinus sumatrensis

Black Rhino

Conservation Status Critically Endangered

The Rhino Family

Elasmotherium

Javan Rhinoceros

Woolly rhinoceros

Greater One-horned Rhino

White Rhino

Sumatran Rhinoceros

Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis

Conservation Status
Critically Endangered