The Rhinos

Rhinos once roamed many places throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa and were known
to early Europeans who depicted them in cave paintings. At the beginning of the 20th
century, 500,000 rhinos roamed Africa and Asia. By 1970, rhino numbers dropped to
70,000, and today, around 27,000 rhinos remain in the wild. Very few rhinos survive
outside national parks and reserves due to persistent poaching and habitat loss over many
decades. Three species of rhino—black, Javan, and Sumatran—are critically
endangered. Today, a small population of Javan rhinos is found in only one national park
on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Java. A mainland subspecies of the Javan
rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011. Successful conservation efforts have led
to an increase in the number of greater one-horned (or Indian) rhinos, from around 200
at the turn of the 20th century to around 3,700 today. The greater one-horned rhino is
one of Asia’s biggest success stories, with their status improving from endangered to
vulnerable following significant population increases. However, the species still remains
under threat from poaching for its horn and from habitat loss and degradation.
In Africa, southern white rhinos, once thought to be extinct, now thrive in protected
sanctuaries and are classified as near threatened. But the western black rhino and
northern white rhinos have recently become extinct in the wild. The only two remaining
northern white rhino are kept under 24-hour guard in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.
Black rhinos have doubled in number over the past two decades from their low point of
fewer than 2,500 individuals, but total numbers are still a fraction of the estimated
100,000 that existed in the early part of the 20th century.