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Africa’s western black rhino officially declared extinct

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western-black-rhino-with-calf

According the latest review of animals and plants by the world’s largest conservation network, the African western black rhino is now officially extinct

The subspecies of the black rhino — which is classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) on the Red List of Threatened Species — was last seen in western Africa back in 2006.

Poaching Rhinos in Africa has always been a massive challenge and the IUCN warns that other rhinos could follow shortly, saying Africa’s northern white rhino is “teetering on the brink of extinction” while Asia’s Javan rhino is “making its last stand” due to continued poaching and lack of conservation.

Simon Stuart, who is the chair of the IUCN species survival commission recently mentioned that in the case of the western black rhino and the northern white rhino the situation could have had very different results if the suggested conservation measures had been implemented twenty or more years ago”.

western-rhino

 

 

While we are probably at the point of too little too late, Stuart added that “These conservation measures must be strengthened now, specifically managing habitats in order to improve performance and preventing other rhinos from fading into extinction,”

The IUCN points to conservation efforts which have paid off for the southern white rhino subspecies which have seen populations rise from less than 100 at the end of the 19th century to an estimated wild population of 20,000 today.

Another success story is that of the Przewalski’s Horse which was listed as “extinct in the wild” back in late 1996 however now, thanks to a well organised captive breeding program, has an estimated population of over 300.

Apart from poaching, old age also plays it’s part. We mentioned the sad story a few weeks ago of a Black Rhino who tragically died at age 43.

Karanja at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. The rhino died on December 24, 2014 at the age of 43. PHOTO | COURTESY| LESINKO OLE KOOL

Karanja at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. The rhino died on December 24, 2014 at the age of 43. PHOTO | COURTESY| LESINKO OLE KOOL

Shockingly, the latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reviews more than 60,000 species, concluding that 25% of mammals on the list are at great risk of extinction.

Apart from animals, many plants are also under threat, say the IUCN. Recent studies of seventy nine tropical plants in the Indian Ocean archipelago revealed that more than three quarters of them were at risk of extinction.

According to the IUCN, populations of Chinese fir which was once widespread throughout China and Vietnam, is being threatened by the expansion of intensive agriculture.

A type of yew tree (taxus contorta) found in Asia which is used to produce Taxol (a chemotherapy drug) has just been reclassified from “vulnerable” to “endangered” on the IUCN Red List, as has the Coco de Mer — a palm tree found in the Seychelles islands — which is at risk from fires and illegal harvesting of its kernels.

In the oceans, the IUCN reports that five out of eight tuna species are now “threatened” or “near threatened,” while 26 recently-discovered amphibians have been added to the Red List including the “blessed poison frog” (classified as vulnerable) while the “summers’ poison frog” is endangered.

“This update offers both good and bad news on the status of many species around the world,” Jane Smart, director of IUCN’s global species program said in a statement.

“We have the knowledge that conservation works if executed in a timely manner, yet, without strong political will in combination with targeted efforts and resources, the wonders of nature and the services it provides can be lost forever.”

Northern White Rhino is Five Rhinos away from Extinction

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Angalifu

With the recent death at San Diego Zoo Safari Park of a 44 year old male northern white rhino, the species is five rhinos away from extinction.

Angalifu, a male northern white rhino, died on Sunday and leaves an elderly female at the park, three in a Kenyan preserve and one at a Czech Republic zoo.

Poaching has brought the northern white rhino to the literal brink of extinction, said Randy Rieches, curator of mammals at the Safari Park in San Diego.

Back in 1960, there were more than 2,000 northern whites, according to the World Wildlife Fund, but poachers obliterated the population and by 1984, there were about 15 of the rhinos left of the original 2000. By 1993 through aggressive conservation efforts, their population doubled to 30. But heavily armed poaching gangs have now virtually annihilated the species, the WWF says.

Poachers (aka disgusting human beings) are well funded and utilise helicopters, guns with silencers and night-vision equipment to kill the rhinos’ for their horns, which are in huge demand in Asia and sell for as much as £20,000 a pound.

Bearing in mind the penalties are not nearly as severe as for selling drugs, the Rhinos never stood a chance.

“We don’t like to talk about price,” Rieches said, “because we feel by giving out a number it could possibly encourage one more person to think they can make money with rhino horn.”

Angalifu essentially died of old age. According to the Safari Park, he had not been very well and had stopped eating for days before his sad death.

“Angalifu’s death is a tremendous loss to all of us,” Rieches said.

The white rhino (which has southern and northern subspecies) is the largest of all the rhino species and ranks as the second-largest mammal on land, after the African elephant, according to the WWF. The white rhino can reach 6 feet in height at the shoulder, with females weighing about 3.5 tonnes and males almost 8 tonnes. The head of the rhino alone can weigh as much as 1 tonne by itself.

Luckily, conservation efforts with southern white rhinos have been a lot more successful that their northern counterparts. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park boasts the most successful captive breeding program for rhinos on the whole planet.

Efforts at breeding the northern white rhinos at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya also have failed.

The reproductive system of the northern white rhino is very complex, Rieches said, and gauging the estrus cycle of the female is difficult. “The rhino is one of the species that we’re still working on to perfect artifical insemination.”

New methods of insemination are being worked on, Rieches said as some of Angalifu’s semen is being kept at the “frozen zoo” at the San Diego Zoo Institute of Conservation Research.

The best we can currently hope for is possibly impregnating a female southern white rhino with sperm from a male northern white rhino. With only 5 left, the clock is ticking.

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