01/09/2005 – Four black
rhinos have been airlifted out of wilderness
areas in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Park in KwaZulu-Natal to form part of a founder
population of about 20 animals for the WWF/
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Black Rhino Range Expansion
Project.
The project aims to boost numbers of the
critically endangered species by increasing
the land available for their conservation,
and reducing pressure on existing reserves
and providing new territory in which they
can breed mre quickly.
Black rhinos (Diceros bicornis minor) once
the most numerous rhino species in the world,
became critically endangered following a catastrophic
wave of poaching in the 1970s and 1980s which
wiped out 96 per cent of Africa's wild black
rhino population. At the lowest point, there
were just 2,500 black rhino left.
Thanks to the intensive protection efforts
by organizations like WWF and Ezemvelo KZN
Wildlife, that number has gradually increased
to around 3,600.
“Our responsibility is to increase numbers
of black rhino,” said Khulani Mkhize, CEO
of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. “We recognize the
value of partnerships with other sectors to
help us achieve this goal."
Because vehicles are not allowed in wilderness
areas, the latest rhinos to be translocated
were lifted by air and placed into specially-made
crates before being driven to holding pens
at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park where they will
remain for about six weeks before being released.
They will then be released on to Zululand
Rhino Reserve, a 17,000ha area in northern
KwaZulu-Natal consisting of 16 adjoining properties
which have dropped their internal fences in
order to create a haven for a significant
black rhino population.
The first release of 15 black rhinos took
place in 2004 at South Africa's Munyawana
Game Reserve.
“Those animals have settled extremely well
into their new home,” said WWF project leader
Dr Jacques Flamand.
“There have been no losses through fights
or accidents, and matings have been observed
so we're looking forward to the prospect of
lots of calves. As the idea of the project
is to increase the growth rate of the overall
black rhino population in KwaZulu-Natal, this
is very promising."
NOTES:
• There are four black rhino subspecies:
the southern-central black rhino (Diceros
bicornis minor), the south-western black rhino
(D.b. bicornis), adapted to the arid and semi-arid
savannas of Namibia, southern Angola, western
Botswana and western South Africa, the East
African black rhino (D.b. michaeli), now found
mostly in Kenya, and the west African black
rhino (D.b. longipes), the rarest and most
endangered subspecies, now found in northern
Cameroon.
• Black rhino are browsers, using their pointed
upper lips like a miniature elephant trunk
to twist off low-growing branches of trees
and shrubs. They can grow to 1.6 metres tall,
weigh up to one and a half tons, and run at
55km/hour.
• Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is KwaZulu-Natal's
conservation management agency, mandated with
ensuring that the province's natural heritage
is preserved.
