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Eastern Black Rhinoceros

Diceros bicornis

CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Perissodactyla
FAMILY: Rhinocerotida
GENUS: Diceros
SPECIES: bicornis

LIFESPAN: 40 years
COLOR/PATTERN: Gray in color with thick hairless skin.
HABITAT: Bushy plains, rugged hills, and scrub lands.
RANGE: Isolated areas of central and southern Africa.
LENGTH: 10 to 12 feet
HEIGHT: 5 to 6 feet at shoulder
WEIGHT: 1,000 to 3,000 pounds
REPRODUCTION: Sexual maturity is reached at 4 to 6 years in females and 7 to 9 in males.
GESTATION: 15 months
DIET: Branches and leaves of shrubs and trees, long grasses, herbs and some fruit.
ACTIVE: Nocturnal and Diurnal
STATUS: Listed on the ten most endangered species list by CITES.

Species/Populations

The rhinoceros or rhino is one of the world’s most magnificent creatures with its almost prehistoric appearance. Sadly the five species of rhino are also among the group of animals most threatened with extinction (endangered).

Three of these rhino species are found in Asia: the Indian or one-horned rhino (population about 1,500), the Sumatran (population about 200) and the Javan (population about 50). The three Asian rhino species are well protected and their numbers have remained steady. The other two rhino are found in Africa: the White rhino (numbering about 4,500 – 5,000) and the black rhino (population about 3,000).

The population of the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) is steadily declining. From a total number of at least 100,000 in 1960, spread across most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert, there are today fewer than 3,500 black rhino left. Most of these survive in southern African countries where there are good protection measures e.g. South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. However poachers are managing to kill rhino in all three of these countries, despite protection. Numbers in South Africa have increased from about 100 to almost 700 since 1930.

Kenya holds an estimated total of 450 black rhino, fragmented into 2 populations by mid-1995. Almost half of the populations are small groups of rhino numbering ten or less, usually remaining from previously much larger populations. These larger populations virtually eliminated through poaching in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Of the dozens of countries that are spanned by the habitat of the black rhino, only three have dedicated wildlife sanctuaries. Of the three, only Kenya has a large population. The populations in the parks are increasing steadily.

The demise of any one of these five rhino species would be a major loss to the earth’s biological diversity. Rhinoceroses are classed as perissodactyls, or odd-toed ungulates, and have roamed the earth for over 50 million years. The habitat and feeding differences that exist between the five remaining species highlights this versatility. Some have adapted to desert conditions, while others live in tropical forests.

Habitat

Black rhinos live in Africa’s open tree and brush savanna, thorn scrub and lower slopes of mountains. They eat the roots, twigs and leaves of the small trees, saplings, and plants. The living habits of the black rhinos are quite ordinary for large land animals. Living alone or in small family groups; they are extremely territorial. Their home territory always includes at least one water hole, and occasionally a mud wallow. The boundaries are defined by dung heaps left by males at regular intervals. The males visit the boundaries frequently to deposit more droppings, so the line is extremely evident. The males scatter the heaps with their horns and hind legs to form patches about six feet across. The probable reason for this is to warn other males that they are trespassing, and also to advertise their own presence to single females who may thus be encouraged to enter their territory.

The black rhino lives in hilly areas on the edges of woodland. Although the male, called a bull, is solitary, his home range overlaps with those of other bulls, and they come into contact with them at their shared water hole. The bulls tolerate each other. Their group, known as a clan, is led by a dominant bull. The clan members challenge any unknown rhino that visits the water hole. Snorting loudly, they paw the ground and my charge, but they rarely make contact. The intruder usually retreats.

Mating

Courtship and mating is complex and can take a long time. The male approaches the female with great caution, frequently interrupting his slow progress with a series of snorts. Often the male makes a distinctive display, swinging his head from side to side with his horn sweeping the ground. Sometimes he loses his nerve and runs off, fearful of an attack from the female, only to return once again with his characteristic stiff-legged gait. The courtship may go on in this fashion for several hours. The black rhino tends to be found on its own, except when a female is accompanied by her calf, and this calf leaves when the next calf is born, following a pregnancy of 15 months.

To show his interest in a female, the bull rhino brushes his horn over the ground, charges at brushes, rushes back and forth, and frequently sprays urine. The female may reject him at first and then allow him to mate with her.

Fifteen months after mating, the female retreats into dense cover to give birth. Although the calf can walk when it is barely 10 minutes old, the mother keeps it hidden for the next few weeks, defending it from predators. The young Black Rhino drinks its mother’s milk for its first two years, and is born without horns.

Threats

The main threat facing all these rhino, and particularly the black rhino, is man. Poachers kill rhino, not fro meat for food, but to get the horns which they sell. Rhino horn is highly valued in certain parts of the world for medicinal and cultural reasons. The horn is made of a mass of fibers (keratin) attached to the skin of the rhino’s snout, and is similar to fingernails and hooves. In early times, the horn was made into drinking cups which were believed to detect poison.

In the Far East and especially China, people believe the horn can be used as medicine to reduce fever. In Yemen, a Middle Eastern country, the horn is used to make handles for ceremonial knives, called jambiyas, worn by young men. A lot of work has been done to tell people that the use of rhino horn is deriving these magnificent creatures to extinction. Yamen has agreed to stop importing rhino horn, and chemical tests on the horn have shown that the horn has no medicinal effect. Different medicines are being promoted in Far East countries to reduce the demand fro rhino horn. By reducing the demand conservationists hope the value of the horn will fall and that this in turn will persuade poachers to stop killing rhinos. Unfortunately the current high prices paid for rhino horn encourage an illegal trade.

The exploitation of the Black Rhino was also accelerated during the 19th and 20th centuries for more than just its horn. It was killed for sport, because it was considered dangerous as well as to obtain its durable hide.

The rhino has few natural predators. Both lions and hyenas kill calves, but poachers are the most serious threat. They alone are responsible for the 80% decline in the rhino’s numbers since 1970.

The Horn

The horns of a black rhino are similar to those of other animals. They are made of keratin, which composes most species’ hairs, horns, and nails. However, a rhino’s horn is not a true horn that is attached to the skull. It grows from the skin, where the keratin is compressed into the horn. Both sexes of the specie have identical double horns. The horns were once used to treat rheumatism and as a traditional aphrodisiac. Both applications, however, have since been proven useless, and the practice has been outlawed. As a result, the population of the black rhino is inching upwards for the first time in fifty years.

Average cost per Kilogram of Rhino Horn, by country Importers:

Rhino horn as been in demand for more than 1,000 years by various people, including Africans, Europeans, Arabs, Chinese, and Indians. Although all rhino species face the threat of extinction in the wild, many people still covet their horns as status symbols, powerful medicines, and aphrodisiacs.

Only a few African tribes use rhino horns; they have, for the most part, helped export them to other countries. In Kenya, one tribe shaped the horn into a club, while another used the horn as a mallet to flatten animal skins. The Zulus of South Africa still use the horn for many purposes. A man may carry a piece of rhino horn in his pocket as a good luck charm. A sip of water boiled with rhino horn is believed to help cure coughs, chest pains, and snakebites

Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians once used rhino horn cups for detecting poisons. They believed that a poisonous liquid poured into the cup would either bubble up or be rendered harmless by the special properties of the horn. Some scientists think that the cups may have succeeded occasionally in detecting strong alkaloid poisons, which would have reacted on contact with the keratin in the rhino horn.

Europe’s affair with rhino horns began in the 19th century, when the tops of riding crops, walking stick, and door handles were made from the exotic material. The rhino horn demand in Europe peaked in the 1920’s when hand grips for rifles, pistols, and interior panels of limousines were made from it. The desire for rhino horn products declined during the Depression, and never recovered its former fever pitch.

In Yemen, a country on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, rich nobles have coveted rhino horn hilts for ceremonial daggers, known as jambias, for centuries. Today, rhino horn daggers still convey the high status of the owner. As the wealth of most Yemenis increased in the 1960’s and 70’s and so did the demand for rhino horn. Yemen imported three tons of rhino horns per year in the early 1970’s, which translated to about 1,000 dead rhinos a year. A ban on rhino horn imports in 1982 only resulted in high-priced bribes to get the horns through customs.

In 1986, an economic slump and international pressure contributed to the fall of rhino horn imports in Yemen to only 1,100 pounds of horn for that year. At the beginning of 1987, Yemeni ministers took steps to strengthen their rhino horn import ban by punishing those who sold horns and encouraging the use of water buffalo horn for hilts. Today, only about 330 pounds of rhino horn per year make it across the Yemeni border.

During 1994, attractive and durable dagger handles were made from locally quarried agate in Yemen, and these have proved very popular. The ready acceptance of the new handles as alternatives to rhinoceros horn may be due to the fact that they are not made from artificial substances or materials newly introduced to Yemen. At least 70kg of raw rhino horn was smuggled into Yemen during 1994, representing the death or a minimum of 24 rhinos.

The flow of rhino horn product in China has not showed yet, however. The Chinese have used rhino horns traditionally for ornamental, magical, and medicinal purposes. As far back as 600 A.D., Chinese aristocrats would present a carved rhino horn cup to the emperor each year on his birthday. These cups can be seen today in museums around the world. The Chinese also made rhino horn buttons, belt buckles, hair pins, combs, paperweights, and talismans.

Rhino horn has historically been used for medical purposes in China as well as for detecting poison. The 16th-cetury pharmacist Li Shih Chen stated that the main ailments treatable with rhino horn included snakebites, hallucinations, typhoid, headaches, carbuncles, boils, fever, vomiting, food poisoning, and “devil possession.�? Li Shih Chen’s 50-volume pharmacology work contains the classic text on preparation and use of the rhino horn, and many pharmacists still use his text when they prescribe it today. Although rhino horn tablets are available, most people want to see the pharmacist shave the rhino horn to ensure that they are getting the real thing.
Chinese pharmacists currently prescribe rhino horn primarily to reduce fever, and three researchers at the Chinese University at Hong Kong have shown that rhino horn does lower fever in rats. The same research revealed that saiga antelope horn and water buffalo horn also reduce fever in the animals, but the scientists suggest that further studies are needed to determine the effects of the different horns on humans.

Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese do not use rhino horn as an aphrodisiac, but a few Indians do. Because of the high price of rhino horn, Indian dealers sell more abroad then they do locally, so use of the horn in India has become rare. Indian Pharmacists grind the rhino horn into a powder and mix it with herbs to increase its powers. The customer takes it home and mixes the rhino powder with honey, cream, or butter and then swallows the mixture twice a day.

Conservation groups now realize that to stop poaching, they must reduce the demand for rhino horn that drives the price up to astronomical heights. If conservation efforts succeed, the rhinos may survive well into the 21st century, horns and all.

South African Police in 1989 inhibited the horn flows from there and demand for African rhino horn is down. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Asian rhino horn. Prices of Asian horns currently reach as much as $20,000 wholesale ($60,000 per kilogram retail). The Taiwanese government passed a law in 1989 which required the registration of rhino horn stocks, and is reported to be considering a total ban on the domestic trade in 1994. According to Esmond Bradly Martin, the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) expert on the rhino trade, “more rhino products are available in Bangkok than any other Southeast Asian city�?. Thailand is part of CITES and trade has been banned on Sumatran rhino since 1972.

Conservation Action

The black rhino is a magnificent, endangered species, and together with the elephant, it has come to symbolize the struggle to conserve Africa’s wildlife. The rhino is a “flagship�? species, meaning that it is a well known animal and can become a focus for conservation action. Efforts to save the black rhino can benefit the conservation of other species and the natural habitat which is essential for the rhino’s survival. But stopping poachers will not save Africa’s wildlife on its own. Ultimately the local people must also want to save the rhino, and this means making rhino in particular and conservation in general relevant to people.

In 1991 the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) initiated a conservation program for Black and White Rhinos in Zimbabwe, translocating rhinos from areas of relative safety and dehorning them. By August 1993, 122 Black and 111 white Rhinos had been dehorned. There is evidence that dehorned rhinos are left unharmed by poachers and, it has been argued that if trade in rhinoceros horn is permitted, revenue raised from the sale of the amputated horn could be used to fund conservation activities. A similar dehorning program was initiated in Namibia in 1989.

A project supported by Wildlife Conservation International to investigate the effects of dehorning on desert-dwelling Black Rhinoceroses was initiated in 1991. The University of Nevada is investigating horn growth and regrowth, reproductive behavior in rhinos with different horn sizes, and range size of males and females in relation to horn and body sizes. Similar research on dehorned White Rhinos showed that the absence of a horn had negligible effects on the animals behavior

Research at the US National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory has demonstrated a unique pattern of keratin protein in rhinoceros horn which might enable the identification of rhinoceros products in Oriental medicines. The process is currently undergoing refinement.

Physical Characteristics

Black and White Rhinos

Though many people think the difference between the black and white rhinos are like night and day, in reality the difference is much more subtle. The difference between the two is that the black rhino has a pointed and flexible upper lip that allows it to sort the leaves and twigs it eats. The white rhinoceros, however, does not have this feature, and only eats grass. Of the two, the white rhino is bigger and heavier, and is the largest land animal besides the elephant. One can see the difference between the two because the white rhino has a huge hump behind its neck that is made of muscle.

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Last Update:Thursday, May 19, 2005 at 07:43:00