- Conservation efforts are helping increase the number of black rhinos in the wild.
- Poaching for ornaments and traditional medicines remains the biggest threat to black rhinos.
- Charity WWF reports that over 6000 black rhinos are in the wild today.
Black rhinos are a major tourist attraction in Tanzania, but they are also a key source of treasured ornaments and traditional medicine for China, despite the fact that the country has banned the trade in ivory.
“The main threat to the black rhino is poaching for the international illegal trade in rhino horn. Most, if not all, horn from Kenya and Tanzania is believed to be shipped to Vietnam and China. In the end-user countries, it is ground and used as medicine for a range of ailments, or carved into jewelry or art or preserved whole displayed for status,” reports the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
However, for decades now, China has refuted claims of the black rhino ivory trade or any other ivory trade for that matter. Likewise, for decades now, Tanzania has been fighting black rhino poaching and all other ivory poaching; it is a tug of war.
The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) remains a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List. Indeed, there is now a national day for it, World Rhino Day, observed every September 22.
There is even a World Rhino Day Playlist on Spotify, a rhino-themed soundtrack comprised of 35 songs totalling two hours and 19 minutes. “There is something for everybody on this eclectic playlist of songs, albums, and bands named rhino or rhinoceros,” the site authors reassure stakeholders.
Following this year’s World Rhino Day, a new study by the African Journal of Wildlife Research, co-authored by WWF-KAZA’s Mike Knight, will be launched in October 2024 to inform the formal Green Status of black rhinos.
Known as the IUCN Green List, this approach celebrates species recovery and ecological functionality and is meant to highlight the positive power of conservation efforts. “Unlike the Red List, which assesses species’ extinction risk, the Green List looks at the recovery of species’ populations and measures their conservation success,” explains the WWF.
Black rhino recovery in Tanzania
This year, Tanzania reported that it had made a significant milestone, successfully increasing its black rhino population from 162 in 2015 to 263. It is commendable indeed, but when the big picture is viewed, we see a worrisome truth: Tanzania is reported to have had a rhino population of over 10,000 in the 1960s.
However, rampant poaching during the 1980s and early 1990s severely decimated the population, reducing it to fewer than 100, local media reported at the heel of World Rhino Day.
In the report that quotes Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Dr Pindi Chana, Tanzania, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is currently implementing measures to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade as stipulated in its 10-year Anti-Poaching Strategy (2023-2033).
“Despite the progress made, black rhinos remain critically endangered due to the high demand for rhino horns on the illegal international market. Between 2008 and 2021, approximately 11,000 rhinos were poached in Africa,” states the report.
In 2013, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) estimated that only 133 black rhinos were left in Tanzania. That year, China reported to the CITIES that it had banned all international and domestic trade in rhino horn and its products since 1993.
It added that since 1993, it had registered and sealed all stockpiled rhino horns. Yet, in that same year, a series of seizures of shipments of illegal wildlife products being transported from Africa to China were reported.
Ironically, “in early August (1993) customs officials in Hong Kong confiscated an illegal shipment of 13 rhino horns, five leopard skins and 1,120 ivory tusks worth more than US$5.3 million. The illegal goods were hidden in a container full of wood that originated in Nigeria.”
The reports went on; “Hong Kong customs officials confiscated elephant tusks worth an estimated $2.25 million… officials confiscated an ivory shipment worth $1.4 million originating from Kenya.”
However, China maintained that it has strict laws, citing: “Under Hong Kong law, anyone found guilty of trading in products from endangered species faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $645,000.”
As a result, that year, CITES recommended that; “China should be considered a priority country for continued assessment.”
‘’China also appears to be emerging as a country of concern based on Asian seizure data, the large number of European export permits issued to move auctioned rhino horns and antique libation cups to China and the large number of live white rhino that were imported to China apparently by a private company interested in the production of rhino horn medicines. For these reasons, the rhino horn trade in China is more active than previously recognized and needs to be assessed more deeply.’’
A decade later, what has changed? In August 2020, Tanzania celebrated the birth of the first black rhino in the wild thanks to support from the Frankfurt Zoological Society, which also helped establish the first rhino conservation project in the Serengeti.
The WWF reports that the total number of black rhinos grew from 2,410 in 1995 to more than 6,000 today. Tanzania boasts 263 in the wild.
Also Read: China’s $4.6Bn Loans to Africa Signal Strategic Shift Ahead of Key Forum.
Black rhinos, white rhinos, understanding the endangered rhino species
According to WWF, the black rhinos are the smaller of the two African rhino species. They can be distinguished from their white relatives by the shape of their lips. While the black rhinos have hooked upper lips, white rhinos have a square lip.
“Black rhinos also have two horns, which grow continually from the skin at their base throughout the rhino’s life (like human fingernails). The front horn is longer than the rear horn, averaging around 19 inches long.”
To date, rhino poaching to supply the illegal international market for rhino horn remains the biggest threat, causing a significant reduction in rhino birth rates and calf survival.
Studies show that losing breeding females particularly harms both current and future populations. To maximize rhino recovery potential, conservation efforts must focus on habitat protection and range expansion, engaging private landowners and communities and, crucially, eliminating the illegal wildlife trade.
The WWF is optimistic that in the long-term, “…the population could potentially grow to 14,465 by 2122. These figures demonstrate the critical importance of ongoing conservation, showing that 3,133 rhinos currently depend on these efforts, and continued work could yield a gain of 2,456 rhinos in the next decade.”
