Northern white rhinoceros guards skin#

Human development and habitat loss are also considered threats to the southern white rhino. Incidents are beginning to drop, but experts are still wary. South Africa, where the majority of southern white rhinos live, has been facing a rhino poaching crisis. Poaching and illegal trade in rhino horn is usually part of sophisticated, organized criminal networks. Wealthy businessmen in particular desire rhino horn products as a way to show off that they have enough money and social status to buy something so rare and taboo.įrom 2012 to 2017, white rhinos’ population dropped 15 percent, largely because of poaching. Their horns are in demand in Asia, primarily in Vietnam and China, for use in traditional medicines and for artistic carvings. Poaching for their horns is one of the biggest threats to white rhinos. The only two left in the world are females, a mother-daughter pair at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The last male northern white rhino, whose name was Sudan, died in 2018. Their cousins, the northern white rhinos, however, are nearly extinct. Their comeback is regarded as a major conservation success story. They are now classified as near threatened. After a century of conservation efforts, there are 19,600-21,000 southern white rhinos in protected areas and private game reserves, especially in South Africa. Southern white rhinos were thought to be extinct in the late 19th century, until 1895, when a small population of fewer than a hundred were found in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

Northern white rhinoceros guards skin#

The wet mud cools them and protects their skin from sun and insects. They will roll around in it, cover themselves with it, and cover their young with it. Males tend to be more solitary than females, and live on about one square mile of land, whereas females can range over an area almost seven times as large. The males defend their territory vigorously with their horns and massive sizes. They stay together in herds on the grassy plains and mark their territory with strategically placed deposits of dung. White rhinos are semi-social and territorial. They can live up to 35 years in the wild and 40 in captivity. Nearly 99 percent of southern white rhinos live in the savannas of Kenya, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, though the vast majority are found in South Africa. 'White' may be taken from the Afrikaans word for “wide,” in reference to their mouths, which are wide and square to help them graze on grass. Contrary to the species name, both subspecies are gray in color. In general, southern whites are a little larger and hairier. Aside from living in different parts of Africa, they differ slightly in the shape of their teeth and heads, appearance of skin folds, and amount of hair. The southern white rhino and northern white rhino are subspecies of the white rhino. Least Concern Extinct What is the southern white rhinoceros?