In honor of World Rhino Day, on Sept. 22, here’s a snapshot of Mongabay’s reporting from the past year on the actions being taken to save rhinos from extinction:
In 1983, the last wild northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) living in Uganda was killed for its horn. But now rhinos are back in the country, contributor Benjamin Jumbe reported in March.
In the last year, at least four southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum simum) were brought to northern Uganda’s Kidepo Valley National Park and another four to Ajai Wildlife Reserve. The reintroduced rhinos are a different subspecies, because just two northern white rhinos are alive today; both are females.
“The translocation helps us not keep all eggs in one basket and create opportunities to mitigate … risks,” Robert Aruho, a veterinary specialist with the Uganda Wildlife Authority told Mongabay.
Mozambique’s ‘silent park’ receives rhinos
Zinave National Park in Mozambique, the site of a decades-long civil war, came to be known as a “silent park,” because the war nearly decimated its wildlife. Since 2022, 64 white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) and black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) have been reintroduced to the park, Mongabay’s Shanna Hanbury reported in June.
As grazers, rhinos help maintain the grassland ecosystem, creating habitat for other wildlife and mitigating fire risk.
“You can imagine if you don’t have rhinos in the park, [there are] very high grass levels, which is a very large fire hazard,” said Antony Alexander, with the Peace Parks Foundation.
At least five healthy black rhino calves have been born in the former war zone of Zinave National Park.
Rhinos reintroduced in India are breeding
In India, reintroduced rhinos are successfully breeding. Between 2006 and 2021, 42 greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) were brought to India’s Manas National Park. Researchers followed their progress and found 40 calves have been born there, raising hope among conservationists for the future of the population, though poaching remains a threat, contributor Sneha Mahale reported in May.
“Breeding and calving are among the most important indicators that reintroduced rhinoceroses have adapted well to their new environment,” wildlife biologist Deba Kumar Dutta, told Mongabay India.
Growing rhino populations need quality habitat
Nepal has also reintroduced populations of greater one-horned rhinos to new areas including in Bardiya National Park. The rhino population in the country grew by 16.6% to 752 individuals from 2015-2021. However, the conservation success story comes with a caveat, contributor Bibek Bhandari reported in June.
Using GPS collars, researchers tracked five reintroduced rhinos in Bardiya. They found the animals traveled longer than expected distances, likely in search of water and better-quality grasslands and wallowing sites.
“Conservation success should not be measured only by population numbers, but also by the health and resilience of the habitats that support them,” rhino researcher Balram Awasthi told Mongabay.
Banner image: A greater one-horned rhino in Chitwan, Nepal. Image by Aditya Pal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
